


Advent of a Heroine

by eri_quin



Category: My Hero Academia, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, BAMF Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki Being an Asshole, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Bullying, Depression, F/M, Fem!Deku, Female Midoriya Izuku, Genderbending, Multi, Possessive All For One, Protective Class 1-A (My Hero Academia), Soul Bond, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Suicide Attempt, Sweetheart Yagi Toshinori, Tsundere Todoroki Enji, protective soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-06-24 00:26:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 41,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15618387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eri_quin/pseuds/eri_quin
Summary: Izuku was a fervent fangirl who wanted to be a hero. But despite her weird mutated genetics and a self-serving Quirk, she was determined to be like All Might! She just didn't know that, in history, Soulmates was a phenomena that preceded Quirks…But why'd she have to get three of them in this day and age?!Still, what she (and most don't know), are that Soulmates aren't the (or just the) happy and fulfilling occasion it was used to be toted as. Having a Soulmate can be just as much pain and sacrifice, and with the Soulmates she's got, she's probably in for a world of that.





	1. Anomaly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Playlist:  
> DNA by Lia Maria Johnson

She held on tight to her daughter, unable to stop crying.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

Of all the things Midoriya Inko had expected to hear that day, her daughter being diagnosed as Quirkless was the last thing she expected. But that was what the doctor had told them and now the two of them sat in front of the computer, crying together even as the video of All Might played in the background and Izuku forced a smile through her tears.

When Izuku finally fell asleep, she carried her daughter to her bed and tucked her in. Then she went to the phone and called a number, hoping he was awake and would answer.

"Hello?" She almost started crying in relief at the sound of his voice.

"Hisashi? There's something we found out today…"

And that's why the next morning found Inko sending her only child off on a plane to America so she could spend some time with her father.

* * *

When Hisashi heard the news, he didn't know what to think. He still loved his daughter of course. Nothing would change that. But she was Quirkless and he knew how hard that was on her, never mind how hard it was going to be  _for_ her in the future. Right now, Izuku was upset at the news, but as she grew older, there was certain to be bias against her and she would have a hard time against the world that didn't think much of those who didn't have a Quirk.

"Otou-san~" Izuku sing-songed, happy for a little while in her distraction. For a moment, he could be glad that his daughter's favorite hero, All Might, held to a positive outlook on life that Izuku strove to emulate, even if he personally was indifferent to heroes himself. "Can we get ice cream?"

He sighed. "Alright. There's an ice cream parlor around here."

"Yay!"

She grabbed onto his hand and skipped forward, nearly leading the way despite not knowing where she was going. New York was a large place though, so he kept a tight hold on her hand.

"Over here, Izuku," he said and he went forward and showed her where to go.

Briefly, as they entered the ice cream parlor, he thought about moving Izuku there and having her live with him. He missed her and he never got to see or hear her often because of his work abroad. It would be nice to have Inko there as well, but he knew that her work with Bakugo Masaru in the fashion industry was important to her.

It would be better for Izuku. America was a bit more tolerant of Quirkless people than most of the world and she could live a better and more comfortable life. Her English was also pretty good already, despite her being only four, and she was incredibly smart. Here, without a Quirk, that aspect of hers would still be very appreciated and thought of as more than useful.

She poked him in the side. "Otou-san, what are you getting?" she whispered.

He smiled slightly. "Strawberry."

While she chattered about what flavors she wanted to try, he continued to think about Izuku's options. As they accepted their ice cream and he paid for it, Izuku took his hand again and led him out of the ice cream parlor. He wondered when and how to broach the topic with her, but as he watched his daughter messily eat her ice cream, he was inflicted with a sense of longing. Why did Izuku want to stay in Japan? There really wasn't anything there for her. He'd already heard from Inko about how she was starting to get bullied, and it would get worse from here on out when it was found out that she was Quirkless. Maybe he could ease her into it —

"OTOU-SAN!" he heard Izuku scream and he looked at her in alarm.

"What is it, Izuku?"

"Look, look! All Might is here too!" she pointed out a store that had an All Might display.

He sweatdropped. "That's…nice…"

"Can we go there?" she asked, widening her eyes.

Hisashi cringed, but then his daughter's lower lip started trembling and he sighed. "Alright."

"Yay!" she pumped a tiny fist into the air. "Let's go, Otou-san!"

"You're such a fangirl," he teased her, enjoying his time with his daughter.

"Ehhh? Don't unesmate a fangirl, Otou-san!"

"I think the word you're looking for is 'underestimate.'"

* * *

She kicked her feet. Back and forth. Back and forth. She tilted a bit to see if she could touch the floor, but she leaned too much —

"Izuku," her father reprimanded sharply and she sat up straight, stilling herself. She couldn't help kicking her feet just the tiniest bit though.

"Sorry, Otou-san," she pouted, wiggling her feet inside of her shoes. "Are we going to be done soon?"

Her father, tall and handsome in his lab coat, pushed aside some papers before he looked at her. He sighed but gave her a smile.

"Soon, Izuku, soon. Just be patient for a little longer?"

She lightened up on her pout but scrambled for her hot chocolate on his desk, holding it up to her father.

"Otou-san, please!"

He chuckled, the sound of it warming over her. He reached for her cup and took a deep breath, before exhaling slowly. Just a tiny burst of fire escaped from his mouth to hit her drink, and he handed it back to her.

"Careful," he told her.

She nodded and held it, but it accidentally slipped from her fingers and crashed to the floor. Some of it splashed onto her legs, causing her to shriek in pain.

"Izuku!" her father stood up and quickly went over to her, scooping her up and quickly bringing her near to a nearby sink, soothing her burned legs with cold water. He tsked. "I told you to be careful," he lightly chastised.

Izuku just started bawling, crying large sobs as she rubbed at her eyes. "It hurts!"

He snatched up wads of paper towel and soaked them with cold water, and brought them along as he carried her back to his desk, settling her on it. He held the wet towels to her legs and told her to hold it.

"I'm going to find the first aid kit," he sighed.

"I want my hot chocolate," she sniffed and looked at the mess on the floor.

He looked at it too. "There aren't any more. I'll have to get you more tomorrow, Izuku."

She shook her head rapidly. "No!"

Izuku stared really hard at that spot and blinked away her tears. To both of their amazements, a shield of light surrounded the mess and it was like time rewound in that small space, the liquid flying back just as the cup reassembled. At the same time, she touched her legs as she leaned forward to watch the phenomena, and two matching shields of light formed over her legs, seemingly healing them.

"I-is that my Quirk?!" Izuku squealed, clapping her hands excitedly. "Otou-san, Otou-san! I have a Quirk!"

Her father stared at the spot intently, glancing at her legs, and she wondered what he was thinking and why he wasn't celebrating with her. But then she forgot about it as she scrambled off of his desk and went back to her drink, carefully picking it up. It was still hot!

Happily but cautiously taking a sip, Izuku resettled herself in her previous seat and focused on her drink.

"Izuku," he said calmly. "Would you want to move here to America and live with me?"

She blinked up at him, holding tightly to her drink. She scrunched up her nose. "But I have to go to school back home and Okaa-san will miss me. Plus, I got a Quirk now and I have to tell Kacchan!"

He nodded absentmindedly. "At least think about it, okay Izuku?"

"Mmkay, Papa," she said in English and she saw him smile at her.

"Izuku, tomorrow I'll take you out to wherever you want to in the city. But tonight…Papa's going to do some tests on you, alright?"

She made a face, but nodded. If her dad wanted to do some tests on her, he probably had a reason.

* * *

That night, Hisashi drew some blood from his daughter. He examined it while Izuku played on his computer, seeing what had been diagnosed before. His daughter  _was_  Quirkless. So what was that earlier? What had happened?

He tapped his fingers repeatedly on the table as he examined the results, trying to think about what might have happened —

His fingers stopped and he froze. Glancing at his daughter, he frowned and remembered to a time when she hadn't been born and he had done something to himself when he was just a bit younger…

Quirks were a mutation in the evolution of humans; the next step in their genetic makeup. What's to say that what had happened to Izuku was not something of the Quirk nature, but of another biological evolution; a different type of mutation similar, parallel to Quirks?

Before Izuku was born, he'd gotten his hands on an interesting biological sample that contained a Quirk nobody thought was real. And he'd, in a fit of madness he was sure, had injected it into himself to see if he could bind his DNA with it, and be capable of wielding that Quirk. While nothing bad had thankfully happened, he hadn't gotten the results he hoped to achieve either. Nothing had virtually happened.

However, if the exchange had indeed created the resulting evolutionary mutation in his daughter…

"Izuku," he called out. His daughter looked at him quizzically. "Would you mind staying a whole week with Papa?"

Her green eyes brightened up. "R-really? Of course!"

Started 8/1/18 — Completed 8/3/18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An okay length, but still shorter than what I'm used to. Ah, I was expecting to get my fem!Edward Elric up first before starting anything else, but I started watching and binging My Hero Academia and then I was a lost cause. Seriously, there was a reason I kept putting off starting this anime…Oh well XD Please enjoy and remember to review!
> 
> Quick Points:
> 
> 1\. The whole mutated time thingymajob? It started because I wanted to think up some kind of Quirk for Izuku and I had a few scenes in mind with time, and then I was thinking of doing something like Whis' time ability from Dragon Ball Super. Maybe a little bit of Hit in there. Then all of a sudden –(tapes mouth). Now that's a spoiler ;P
> 
> 2\. Pairings: I will say this now, to my newer and non-regular readers, I don't like being hassled about my pairings. Don't like, don't read. Simple. Stating this now because it's a new fandom I'm not sure of, but I am hopeful will be respectful. I don't usually have a problem with this, except maybe for one or two fandoms that are oddly hostile to non-canon pairings, but ehhh. Like I said, don't usually have a problem and otherwise don't give any fucks. Otherwise, please give them a try and enjoy the ride!


	2. Puzzle Me This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Playlist:  
> In the Air Tonight by Jon Howard (Phil Collins cover)  
> Sinnerman by CntrlAlt (Nina Simone cover)  
> In the Air Tonight by Kelly Sweet (Phil Collins cover)

There was something in the air tonight. He could feel it, but didn't know what to make of it or why he was feeling that way.

Behind him, the fires of hell were burning. But he'd be damned if he died now, and at the hands of that fool. Despite the injuries he'd taken on because of the man he'd fought against just hours earlier, he'd managed to find his way far from where the battle had taken place. All Might may have thought he'd defeated him and was currently helping out with the causalities and injured back at the battlefield, but he'd slipped away and made it as far as he could into this quiet neighborhood.

All For One wasn't someone that would easily go down after all.

However, his injuries were extensive and serious. It was a shame he didn't have some sort of healing Quirk —or better yet, a regeneration Quirk. It would be extremely useful at a time like this.

Finding a small park, he grimaced as he maneuvered himself towards it and went to go find a place to momentarily hide in and rest until he could continue on. Shigaraki and Kurogiri were waiting on him after all, and if he could just…

A loud gasp alerted him to someone's presence, and though he'd lost his eyesight because of the battle, he still had a useful Quirk in his arsenal that allowed him to 'see'. There was a small girl nearby and it was obvious she'd seen him. He cautiously stood still, watching her with his sightless eyes, knowing he looked a wreck and was probably scaring the girl.

"Mister, Mister, are you okay?" she asked and he was surprised to hear English from her lips. "Oji-san, you look really hurt!" She switched to Japanese and hurried to his side.

What a sweet but naive girl…She didn't know the monster standing right in front of her darling self and how easily he could crush her, even with his injuries…

He took a step closer to her, but unfortunately stumbled. To his amusement, she leaped forward and held onto him, trying her best to stabilize him despite her small size.

"Oji-san, come with me! I'll take care of you, 'kay?" she said and he silently allowed her to half-drag him after her, trying to use what strength he had left to help carry himself on with her support.

What a cute, silly girl accompanying a wolf to her home…

* * *

Izuku didn't know what to make of seeing the strange, injured man appearing practically out of nowhere. He was covered in blood, his face scarily gored up with his eyes missing, and looking like he'd come out of a horror movie. The suit he wore was damaged and he looked like he was at death's door.

There was no possible way that Izuku could leave him like that, especially when she wanted to be a hero. Heroes had to help those in need!

"Oji-san, we're almost there, okay?" she told him worriedly.

He coughed, blood splattering out of his mouth. She winced.

"Don't call me Oji-san," he muttered. "Call me…Sensei."

She blinked but inwardly shrugged. "Okay, Sensei. We'll be home soon and I'm going to make sure you'll be okay. I promise 'cause it's what heroes do and I'm gonna be a hero!"

It didn't matter if she was 'Quirkless' and had a weird 'non-Quirk' power. She would be a hero no matter what, someone who made others feel safe with her smile. Just like All Might!

He kept silent and followed her along to where her home was. She helped him up the steps and then reached her door, where she unlocked it and entered inside.

"Okaa-san~ I'm home!" she called out. "I have someone I'm going to be a hero for, okay?"

There were hurried steps at that. "Izuku, what in the world?" her mother asked bewildered. Then she saw her and the man she was sort of carrying and gave a small shriek. "Izuku!"

"He was injured," she said patiently, ignoring her mom's shocked and terrified look. "So I decided to take him in so I could take care of him."

"Izuku, we have to get him to a hospital," her mom hurriedly interrupted her. "He's really injured and they're better equipped to help him! He looks like he's dying, Izuku!"

Izuku missed him quickly opening his mouth, instead focused on replying back to her mom. "Nuh uh! I can help him better, Okaa-san! They won't be able to help him like I can!"

Her mother hesitated but ended up shaking her head, coming towards them to help Izuku grab hold of the man. Together, they helped carry him into Izuku's room, where they laid him down. Her mother stood back and Izuku then concentrated, focusing intently and then grinning wildly when the shield of light appeared around the man and blood began to disappear while his head and face reformed. Whatever other injuries he had, she was sure was healing too.

But then her body started feeling tense and then she was straining. Before she knew it, after she was sure she'd managed to fix him, her eyesight was blacking out and she inwardly panicked.

* * *

All For One felt surprisingly revived. It was as if he had never been injured at all. However, when he looked at the girl, he saw (with his own eyes at that) her looking strained, before she was trembling and then falling. He leaped forward, reminiscent of the girl's actions earlier, and caught her just as her mother rushed forward to try to catch her daughter herself.

"What…what did she do to me?" he asked, feeling amazed and curious about this new development. Even his clothes were repaired and back to normal.

He cradled her in his arms as he looked to the girl's mother.

"Izuku has a strange…Quirk," the mother said carefully. "She can reverse things that happened in time."

Reverse… _time_?

Now that was a Quirk he wanted and had to have as part of his collection. But this girl  _did_ save him, so a part of him felt obligated to do something in exchange for her. Perhaps give her a useful Quirk in compensation and to exchange for the Quirk of hers that he dearly wanted to have for himself…

"Why is she like this?" he asked, keeping his thoughts off of his face and private.

"She's not used to using it or doing it so heavily like this," her mother explained apologetically, hovering near and watching her daughter worriedly. He surprisingly didn't want to let go. "You looked really injured, so I'm guessing the amount of time and energy she used took a toll on her," she grimaced. "She's never done this before, so I don't know if she's fine."

He glanced at the girl —Izuku? —and even checked her pulse and her breathing. "She'll be fine," he declared. "I'm sure she'll just need…rest." He looked to Izuku's mother. "May I stay until she's okay, and help take care of her? I believe I owe her that much, after what she's done for me."

Izuku's mother looked unsure. "You don't really have to…"

"I would like to. Please."

She gave in. "Very well then. My name's Midoriya Inko…?"

"You may call me Sensei," he told her like he had her daughter.

Inko lightly raised her eyebrows. "Thank you, Sensei."

"No, thank  _you_ ," he said firmly.

This was unexpected but felt very fateful. He couldn't  _not_  grab this opportunity with his hands right now. Not just this amazing and unheard of Quirk, but what had just transpired with him —a complete reversal of his injuries, of the wreck his body had gone through! He felt brand new, as if he hadn't been in a life or death battle with All Might that he'd barely left intact from.

In the next few minutes, Inko had her daughter ready for bed and the two of them set up a way for them to watch over her. A cold compress was left onto her forehead and a bowl with water and a rag was left by her side table. A medium-sized futon was left on the floor next to Izuku's Western bed for him to use and the door was left open in case Inko was needed.

But when he was sure Inko had gone to bed, he stood up and placed his hand on the girl's head, concentrating and feeling for his own Quirk.

He tensed up in the realization that there was… _nothing._  His Quirk didn't react and he was unable to search out her own Quirk. It was like she was empty.

"What in the world?" he murmured.

How mysterious.

* * *

When the rays of the sun hit Izuku's face, she could still feel her body feel like…lead? It felt heavy and she didn't think she was capable of moving. Whimpering, she tried her best to sit up, only to be alarmed at being unable to.

"You're awake," Sensei's soft voice noted carefully.

"I can't move," she sniffled, trying not to cry and be a crybaby.

"Not unexpected," he nodded. "You seemed to have expended a great deal of power and energy fixing me. Which I greatly thank you for, little one."

She gave him a watery smile. He gave a smaller one back before coming closer and helping her up, grabbing a glass of water to the side and helping her take tiny sips through the straw that was in it.

"I'm curious about this Quirk of yours," Sensei started inquiring politely. "It doesn't seem…like a healing Quirk?"

Izuku meshed her lips in thought, remembering what her father told her about it but also the fact he'd told her not to say anything.

"Well…" she said hesitantly.

Sensei smiled encouragingly at her. "Don't worry. You saved my life. I owe you a great deal, little one. I promise I won't speak about your Quirk to anyone."

Encouraged by him, she decided it wouldn't be too bad letting at least him know. "Un! Papa said it wasn't a Quirk." She saw him raise his eyebrows. "Last year, the doctor told me I was Quirkless! When I was with Papa, I burnt myself when I dropped my hot chocolate. It really hurt! And I wanted my hot chocolate," she pouted as she remembered. "So I was just sad and I thought about how much I wanted it back and how my legs kept hurting. Then my power worked and all of a sudden my hot chocolate wasn't on the floor and the cup was back to okay and my legs were normal! I thought it was a Quirk, you see, and I was sure the doctor had made a mistake. Papa did some tests though. He said it wasn't a Quirk and that's why I can't talk about it to anyone," her pout intensified. "But Sensei said he'd keep it a secret, right Sensei?"

His lips curled into a smile and he held out a pinky, causing her to giggle and squeal quietly in happiness.

"Pinky promise," he quirked up an eyebrow just as he smirked at her.

She giggled again and watched him turn thoughtful.

"Not a Quirk, huh. Did he tell you what it was or how it happened?" he asked her.

"Uh uh," she said. "Papa just said I had to keep it secret."

He made a humming noise in the back of his throat before he stood and gently laid her back down. "Are you hungry? It's breakfast time and your mother is making breakfast. I will let her know you are finally awake."

"Finally?"

He gave her another thoughtful look. "You've been out a night and a full day."

What?

* * *

All For One had a lot to think about. Izuku had strange circumstances that he couldn't stop thinking about, and as he helped feed her, he tried to shift through the myriad of questions he wanted to ask.

If her power  _wasn_ _'t_ a Quirk, then what was it?

"Did Okaa-san go to work already?" Izuku asked, watching him with a tilted head. The pillows piled behind her to help her be alright was shifting precariously and he absentmindedly used one of his Quirks to telekinetically move them back into place and secure them. He saw her eyes light up in awe and curiosity.

"Sensei, what's  _your_  Quirk?" she asked excitedly.

He inwardly frowned, thinking to himself. "It's…complicated," he said, thinking quickly about what he could say. But…if he wanted to get this girl to be on his side in the future, he'd have to invest in her and that meant giving her some truths in exchange for her belief in him. "My Quirk can…take other people's Quirks," he carefully said, watching her closely. "I ended up being able to use those Quirks myself."

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped a little. " _Really_?"

"Mmhm," he answered, encouraged by her behavior and interest. "It's like a…pull inside of me and my Quirk draws me to other Quirks, and I feel the need to have those Quirks. In the beginning, it was very hard to control and I ended up taking Quirks without my control or wanting to. It just happened, you see? That's why I wasn't very liked and thought of as bad."

She was listening intently to him, which was good. He had her ear right now.

"Are you sure you're Quirkless?" he asked her, still confused and skeptical.

She bobbed her head, capable of some movement by now. "The doctor and Papa said so."

"You know, one of the Quirks I have will let me know if you really are," he said faux casually, determined to get down to this mystery. "Would you like me to make sure? It might hurt a little though."

"Yes please!" she said, excited again as only a child could get.

He reached out his hand and grasped her shoulder, with several nerve-like tendrils erupting from his fingers and jabbing into her shoulder. The short distance and him willing it to be, made it less painful than it normally would be and she only gave a small yelp. He concentrated on trying to feel for her Quirk like he had before. Only this time, he didn't give up after feeling nothing, his All For One Quirk still not finding anything. He kept up his focus, willing his All For One to go deeper.

 _There_. There was something there and it felt dormant, as if it was just seeped into her very DNA and kept ingrained. Using the Forcible Activating Quirk he'd acquired some time ago, he willed it to activate this girl's Quirk, using that Quirk in this strange way.

Whatever her Quirk was, it had either been kept in the state it was in her body and likely wouldn't have ever manifested, or maybe it would've eventually —maybe in a stressful situation for her, or just naturally in a much later time than was usual for people these days.

"Did it work?" she asked wondrously.

He gave her a smile. "I managed to find it and I activated it for you. I have a healing Quirk I can use on you. It was useless on me since it's limited and can only be used on others, but it'll be helpful in this situation as I can speed up your healing process a little; at least enough so that you can tentatively try to use your Quirk for a moment."

She nodded eagerly, though he could tell that fatigued her afterwards. He reached out again and held her hand, bringing up said healing Quirk. That was when things went wrong.

The moment he started using that Quirk, he could  _feel_  the familiar pull of the All For One Quirk. But it wasn't coming from him. Instead, the healing Quirk he was using was being pulled away from  _him_  and he knew she'd somehow taken it. He yanked his hand away.

She looked worriedly at him. "What…what's wrong, Sensei?"

He stared at her hand for a moment, mind racing. He took a deep breath before focusing on her, making her flinch by how intense his gaze had probably become.

"You have my Quirk," he said plainly.

She gasped. "W-what? What do you mean, Sensei?"

"I mean that you have the ability to take Quirks like myself," he said patiently, even as he was doing his best to try to come up with a reason why this was. "I was trying to heal you when you were somehow able to take that Quirk from me."

Izuku gasped aloud, looking horrified. "Oh no! I'm so sorry, Sensei! Please don't be upset with me!"

All For One nearly chuckled in hysteria. This girl's reaction…compared to himself, she was the epitome of sweetness. It was strangely contrasting to the likes of himself, especially for the kind of Quirk they had.

"I'm not upset," he said slowly, trying to think of how to spin this situation. "You are…unique like myself. But like I told you earlier, our Quirk isn't a very favorable one to others. People…people will be afraid of you. So you have to keep it quiet, okay? Just like your time power. Otherwise, you'll be disliked and thought of as bad like I was." It was strange to share a Quirk with another and refer to it as 'ours'. But it was true and made him feel vaguely a little possessive of the girl who shared something so important with him.

"You're so nice," she said with a childish pout. "You're not a bad man! Mean people."

The irony wasn't lost on him.

All For One merely chuckled and ruffled her green hair. "Just remember, people are generally not nice when it comes to things they fear. So you mustn't let others know about your Quirk unless you're sure of them." He would've told her to keep completely silent about it, but she was a child and he knew she'd slip. As long as she kept mostly quiet about it though, she'd learn quickly enough to not speak too much about it…

"Izuku, would you like to watch TV? I'll make us lunch in the meantime…"

* * *

Sensei's healing Quirk came back after two days.

When Izuku was capable of limited movement around the apartment, she had accidentally tripped and had hurt her knee. It bled and she tried not to cry, but she ended up letting loose a few tears. Sensei quickly came towards her and had knelt down, checking on the wound. He'd looked quizzical a moment later, and then he'd held his hand over her wound and started healing it to their surprise.

"How surprising," he'd said. "I apparently have my healing Quirk back."

He'd looked like he was thinking and all of a sudden he'd cut himself on something. She'd gasped loudly and had grabbed his hand worriedly.

"Try healing it," he'd told her. "When I take Quirks, it never comes back to the Quirk user. So if mine is back, I wonder if you only temporarily took it and don't have it anymore."

She'd nodded hesitantly before looking at his hand. She'd tried not to use her power, focusing instead on the healing Quirk, like how Sensei how taught her to do before. To her surprise then, she'd ended up healing him.

"Hm, another surprising development, huh little one?" he'd said, smiling at her.

She'd found herself beaming at him happily.

Since then, Sensei had taken to experimenting with her, letting her mother know about her Quirk, though he made it sound like it was some sort of Copy Quirk. Her mother had let her take her Quirk and they found out that her mom's Quirk came back within 2 hours.

"Interesting," was all Sensei had to say about that.

He also let her take a few of his Quirks and they tried to keep track of the time it took for them to return.

"I think it depends on you," he told her. "And how powerful the Quirk is. If you will it to come, it'll come back sooner than otherwise, though how powerful the Quirk is will play a factor. I also believe, if you want it to be, you could take that Quirk away forever —like how our Quirk is supposed to be."

He hmmed and she waited patiently for him to finish his thought. "I think your version seems to be a mutation of our Quirk, its capabilities the same but also with additional 'features' that mine aren't capable of." He gave her a strange smile at that. "We'll practice more on that, but I'd like to help you practice more on your other power before I have to leave."

She felt disappointment fill her at the thought of him leaving. "You're leaving soon, Sensei?" she asked.

He gave her a fond smile, running his fingers through her hair. "I have to get back to business soon, little one, but I will try to look in on you as often as I can. Now, why don't we start practicing, okay?"

* * *

All For One was ready to return to his plans, already having contacted Kurogiri to let him know his status. Though he had surprisingly enjoyed this small 'vacation' of sorts and had stumbled upon a treasure of immeasurable worth, he still had to get back to business and plan for the future, especially the inevitable rematch with All Might.

Still, he would miss his little Izuku, who had somehow wormed her way into him. But they were special after all —the two of them with the All For One Quirk. He was sure no one else had it but them, and it was likely to stay that way.

It was the two of them.

"We're unique, Izuku," he said to her that night, putting her to bed. "The two of us, we're two of a kind."

Her green eyes widened at him. "We are?" she asked in awe.

"Yes, we are," he said firmly. "Now close your eyes. I have a gift for you."

She quickly did as she was told and he placed his hand on her head.

In the time he'd been with her and had helped her practice not just their Quirk, but her astounding, mysterious power, he'd realized the weakness with it. She was capable of using that power without problems, except when she was using it excessively or on something that was as extensive as what happened to him. So the Super Regeneration Quirk he'd been hoping to have and thought would be useful became much more important and urgent for him to find and have, given how it would help her heal and recover more easily when using her Reversal power.

So he went out to find it and was lucky to find it as quickly as he did. Now he was letting her take it from him, confident in the fact that he would be gaining it back soon enough, even if he wasn't sure when that would be.

"Now you'll be able to use your Reversal better in the future," he said. "It's time for bed, Izuku," he pulled up her covers.

"I don't want to sleep. You'll leave," she said calmly, in one of her less childish and more mature moments, gazing at him with darkened green eyes that was too serious in her age. How intuitive and intelligent, this girl was.

"What if I told you a bedtime story?" he murmured.

She pursed her lips, but reluctantly nodded. He wracked his brain for some sort of story and then remembered something he used to believe in.

"You see, there was a myth of a long time ago that humans once were made up of four arms and four legs with a single head with two faces. They had great power, enough to threaten the gods. In punishment, these humans were split apart by the gods, but became so miserable that the gods took pity and sewn each half up. Each human would have one set of everything and one genitalia, with only the navel the only thing from their original form. However, they would now forever long for their other half —the other part of their soul. If ever two halves were to find each other, it is said that there would be no greater joy and that they would immediately and instinctively have an unspoken understanding of each other. They would find unity and feel whole and complete. That is the legend of Soulmates, the Twin Flames ideal."

To his amusement, even as bitterness that he thought he'd long forsaken came frothing forth, little Izuku looked wide awake now and was listening to him earnestly. He continued on with his story.

"Around 200 years ago, back in the old days before Quirks existed, there were an abundance of Soulmates. It was common —a right of age even —for those who turn 14 to gain the initials of their Soulmate on their wrist. If they found their other half and came in contact, their full name would be revealed. It wasn't always usual to run into your Soulmate though, but having one at all and being able to sort of feel their presence filled in the ache. It was rarer still for there to be someone who never received their Soulmate Mark."

"How come I've never heard of Soulmate Marks and there's no one around talking about Soulmates or getting a Soulmate Mark?" Izuku asked.

"They've become rare, nonexistent even," All For One remarked candidly. "Quirks was the phenomena that replaced the Soulmate tradition and it seemed Soulmates and Soulmate Marks somehow died out."

Izuku looked sad and disappointed. "I wish I could have my other half or at least know I had one."

All For One took one of her hands and squeezed it. "Don't you worry, little Izuku. If you want, one day I'll find you the perfect match."

That (forcibly so, if need be) or be her other half —they  _were_  two of a kind with their Quirk and needed no one else.

He'd never gotten his Soulmate Mark after all.

Started 8/4/18 — Completed 8/4/18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooo, what the hell just happened? This is the fastest and longest response I've gotten to a fic for a long time. It's amazing and I'm really happy, guys! I'm going to do my best to update quickly these days before the school vacation is over and it's back to teaching. So thank you all for you guys' support! Please continue to enjoy the story and remember to drop a review!
> 
> Quick Points:
> 
> 1\. Timeline: So technically, the huge fight between with All Might and All For One should've happened when Izuku's 9ish (10?). I just moved it up and had it happened earlier, so Izuku is like 5 right now (heading onto being 6).
> 
> 2\. Soulmates: It's…complicated. Haha, so you get a glimpse of what's like here, as to how All For One explains it, but…there's more to it. Also, Soulmates are so not a happy thing in here. Er, at least not completely? XD
> 
> 3\. OP Izuku: 'Cause I just want to. I never get to write awesome kickass characters without overly worrying about making them OP for people, so here I'm just going to be like fuck it. I mean, like usual, of course I'm going to do my best to write it with sense and all, but I just want to have fun writing BAMF female character without worries.
> 
> 4\. Pairings: Pairings are pairings. Also, 'cause angst. And the insanity. I love these pairings, so come at me :D


	3. Flames of Solace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Playlist:  
> Radioactive by Koda (Imagine Dragons cover)

She watched things gravitate towards her idly, giggling in amusement. In the background, she heard her mother rummaging in the kitchen.

"We're out of so many things! Looks like I'll have to take a trip to the store," she heard her mom say.

She looked up and the things that had started gravitating to her stopped and fell down where they were.

"Okaa-san, can I come?"

Her mom smiled brightly at her. Midoriya Inko was the best and most loving mom ever in Izuku's opinion.

"Of course, sweetie," Inko looked tenderly at her. "Let me just grab my purse."

Soon enough, they were heading to the store together. Izuku felt really happy with her mom and was content just walking along like this. Slipping her hand into her mother's, she wondered if she could ask her mom to get her something sweet at the store…

Her thoughts turned idle. Izuku's hand was small in her mother's. It made her feel safe and she happily walked by her mom's side, who looked down at her fondly. Suddenly, the air felt warm. It was only after she heard the roar of flames coming, a man's yelling, and the heat of flames at her back, that she saw the look of adoration directed towards her become one of fear and horror.

And then there were flames everywhere and she was screaming.

She felt her skin burn, smell it burning. Her mother threw herself over her, but it was too late and both of them were on fire and screaming, screaming, screaming…

On fire and in obvious pain, her mother looked at her one last time.

"Izuku, I love your smile."

Izuku's eyes closed and she continued to scream.

* * *

Todoroki Enji was angry and frustrated. The villain he'd been chasing down was annoyingly fast and kept escaping every flame burst he sent at him with his Hellflame. At one point, he thought he'd gotten him, only to miss and feel even more frustrated. His anger was mounting and he was close to burning this creep to a crisp.

"Shit. Stay still, you bastard," he muttered under his breath.

Finally, the villain slowed just enough for Enji to take advantage of the empty street and he swung his arm out and sent a powerful burst of fire at the villain. He ducked Enji's flame, but he'd calculated that in and manipulated his Hellflame to spread out in an arc, sending the area aflame for a moment. It injured and incapacitated the villain, but that wasn't what caught his attention.

The screaming did.

To his horror, he realized that the villain had grabbed two civilians and had held them close, only to toss them away at last minute as he tried to evade the flames. Enji, in his aggravation, had missed seeing the civilians and had shot out his flames before he could see what the villain had done, and where he was aiming. He'd accidentally hit the civilians head on with his flames and he rushed towards them, willing the fire away as fast as he could. But the visage of the woman and child screaming and being burned alive within his flames was seared into his mind, and he couldn't unsee it.

"No, no!" he yelled and willed his legs to go faster.

When he finally reached them, he was nearly tossing himself forward in an effort to save them. But by the time he reached the woman, he could already tell that she was dead. He knew there was a child too, and from her position, the woman had grabbed onto them. Muttering a prayer, he deftly pried away the dead woman's arms and tentatively checked on the child, hoping they weren't dead.

He nearly threw up though, as the child was worse off, nearly blackened to a crisp, like he'd threatened he'd do to the villain he'd been chasing.

_But she was_ _ **alive**_.

She was whimpering, no longer full out crying, but she was breathing and alive. Before his eyes, he saw what he assumed was her Quirk activating, her body starting to regenerate at a rapid speed.

"Are you…are you okay?" he asked breathlessly, amazed at what he saw.

"H-hurts," she whimpered.

Enji hurriedly scooped her up into his arms and called in the police and medics to the scene.

* * *

In the hospital, he stood silently in the hallway. The villain he'd fought was already being transported to jail and his sidekicks were probably meandering back at the agency.

Enji just stood there and waited for news on the girl.

In the time between her being taken in and he being told to wait somewhere, he had learned the mother's name was Midoriya Inko and the girl was Izuku. The father, a Hisashi, was overseas and had been called about the situation. The girl —Izuku —looked completely normal by the time she was brought into the Emergency Room and was being checked over, though she hadn't regained consciousness after she'd lost it on the way to the hospital. Enji continued to berate himself in that time.

It didn't matter, as he was told by the Chief of Police earlier, that the villain had confessed to trying to use the two as hostages when he saw them. He'd panicked at the sight of Enji's flames and sacrificed mother and child to them. But it was still Enji's flames that had killed Midoriya Inko and had almost killed little Izuku, instead probably making her suffer a traumatizing pain and probably something she'd never forget. If it hadn't been for the girl's Quirk, she probably would've ended up killed too.

Enji had been careless and had let that villain frustrate him.

"Endeavor?" he heard. Turning to the doctor that had appeared, he waited impatiently.

"Yes?"

"The girl you brought in is in a stable condition," the doctor started out. "To be honest, she is astonishingly completely healthy and fine, as if she hadn't suffered from the injuries you told us she received. She's registered as Quirkless, but I believe she's a late bloomer and her Quirk must've forcefully activated when this traumatizing event pushed her past a limit."

"Is she awake?" Enji quietly asked.

"She is," the doctor answered disbelievingly. "I'm not sure if you should go in to see her."

He gave the doctor a harsh look, making him shut up. The doctor reluctantly led him to the girl's room and Enji nearly backpedaled. He forced himself to keep going and entered the room, seeing the girl lying down and staring at the ceiling.

"Izuku-chan," the doctor said, earning her attention. She caught sight of Enji and her green eyes widened. "You have a visitor."

The doctor left after a quick look between the two, and then it was just Enji and the small girl in the hospital bed.

Enji swallowed heavily and walked slowly over to her, seeing her watch him with wide, cautious eyes. When he stopped next to her bed, he knelt down and peered into her eyes.

"I am very sorry," he said seriously, trying to convey everything. The sight of her screaming and writhing in his flames flashed through his head and he shuddered. "I am so, so sorry, little one. I'm sorry," he actually found himself choking up, and he aggravatingly willed the tears at bay. Not that it was much help, especially since the screaming wouldn't go away in his ears. So instead, he found himself burying his face into his hands and crying into it.

He was supposed to be a Hero, so  _why did this happen_?

A small hand landed on his head and startled Enji. He lifted his head a bit, Izuku's hand still on the top of it, and he found himself looking into a smiling face.

_She_ _'s_ _**smiling** _ _at_ _**him** _ _?_

"It's not your fault," she declared softly, making him stare. "You made a mistake and the bad guy had us. But you're a Hero, Endeavor, so please keep doing your best!"

She was a child and though she said it childishly, she clearly believed that.

"I'll…I'll do better," he found himself saying. "I won't fail again. I'll stop every villain!"

That had always been his goal, to be the best —better than that damn All Might. Now his determination was bigger and more focused than ever. This girl, even after what he'd done, still believed in him and called him a Hero. He couldn't fail in his goal now.

She gave him a toothy smile and he echoed it slightly, something he had never done, not even with his own family.

* * *

Enji frowned to himself, trying to activate his Hellflame while he waited outside of Izuku's room. Nothing. He probably had overdone it though, so that's why he couldn't use his Quirk. The door opened and he straightened up, watching as the doctor led the girl out of the room.

"Izuku-chan, Endeavor will be taking you to your home, alright? Your father will be coming home in a week, so you'll have someone check in on you everyday to make sure you're alright until then."

Enji frowned at that. Having the girl stay by herself? It didn't sound feasible, especially after what she experienced.

Izuku nodded at the doctor, solemn-faced as she agreed. She turned to Enji then and he held out his hand, watching as she tentatively grabbed it. Was she afraid of him? It was likely, even if he hated that thought.

He started to lead her away from there, silently taking her out of the hospital and to his car.

"Will you be alright alone?" he asked when they were finally inside his car.

She shifted. "…I don't know."

Enji looked at her then. "We can go to your home and grab some things, but you can stay with me and my family until your father comes. I have four kids, one around your age and one a girl. You'd get along with them."

'Even if they hate me,' went without saying.

He wasn't oblivious to his kids' feelings about him. But if he wanted to beat All Might and be the #1 Hero, he can't afford to lose sight. Shoto was his best bet right now, after himself. If he maybe put more of his focus and attention on Shoto, it wasn't that he was his favorite child, but the child that would —in his eyes —have the potential to be even better than himself and could be a Hero that could work hard for the people. A Hero that wouldn't make fatal mistakes like the one Enji had.

He wouldn't let anyone hurt or ruin that potential, even his wife.

"Okay then," he heard Izuku's quiet answer.

"Are you able to tell me the directions?" he asked. She was a kid after all. To his surprise, he was impressed by her capability. Despite being young, five years old at best, she was very intelligent for one her age and he easily followed her directions.

They made it to her home, a small apartment, where inside looked homey if slightly cramped. Izuku trekked to a door that Enji assumed was her room, and he followed in case she needed help.

"Make sure you grab a toothbrush and whatever else you think you need," he said awkwardly, not used to being parental, despite the handful of kids he had. They'd be the first to tell anyone just how parental he was incapable of being after all.

Looking around the room, he grimaced at the amount of All Might merchandise she had. Still, there were a lot of other areas covered with other Heroes obviously, and he even spotted Endeavor merch that made him blush. He scowled and folded his arms across his chest (though he was sure his face was still slightly red).

"You really like Heroes, huh?" he tried to make light talk. "Especially All Might," he tried not to sound bitter. It was a kid after all.

"Uh huh," she said. "I love Heroes! Heroes are cool and they do their best to protect everyone!" Izuku beamed at him. It made Enji flinched though, because he hadn't done his best. And if it was his best, then it wasn't good enough; not if his best got this girl's mother killed and her suffering. "I really like All Might because I want to be a Hero like him —someone whose smile will make everyone feel safe! Okaa-san…Okaa-san said she loved my smile…"

To his horror, she began to sniff and then sob, before she was full out crying. Not one to comfort anyone, he did his best as he strode over to her and knelt down.

"H-hey now…"

But she shook her head and her crying became louder, until to his shock, green-colored fire erupted from her and surrounded her body, not unlike his own Hellflame.

"What the hell?" he breathed as he fell back, landing backwards and keeping himself up by a hand, even as he stared at the spectacle disbelievingly.

Shaking himself out of it, he grabbed onto her, only to have his hands burned. He flinched back, but continued to try to talk to her.

"Hey! Izuku!  _Snap out of it_!"

But he wasn't getting through to her. Taking a deep breath, he braved the fire and swung his hand, delivering a moderate slap. Though it worked and shocked her out of it, he winced and quickly apologized.

"I'm sorry. Are you okay? What was that? Why did you…those were my Hellflames," the same ones that he was currently unable to produce at the moment.

She looked at him guiltily. "I think I have a bad Quirk," she sniffled, wringing her hands. "It steals other Quirks."

Cold fear ran through him. Did that mean he didn't have his Quirk anymore?

"It comes back!" she said hurriedly and he wondered if he'd asked that aloud or had she anticipated the question. He felt relieved though and guessed this was why he had been burned when he'd never been hurt by fire before. "I don't have control when it does, but your Quirk comes back. Sensei said that my Quirk was like his, except m-m-mutative?"

"Mutated," he guessed while he started thinking about that. She had…a Copy Quirk? Something like that, it seemed. The Quirk user she took it from would regain the Quirk. "How much time does it usually take for the Quirk to come back to the user? How long do you get to have the copied Quirk?"

"I don't know how long it takes. When I took Okaa-san's, it came back an hour later. When I took one of Sensei's, it took longer. I think…two days? And it never goes away for me," she blinked at him tearily.

' _Shit, don't cry again…'_  Enji was shit with kids. He didn't know how to handle them.

Still, that meant this girl would have his Hellflame for a long time, if not for the rest of her life. And seeing her starting to cry again, his Hellflame starting to flare up from her body, he knew he'd have to teach her some kind of control.

"Breathe," he snapped out and she halted, staring at him while hiccuping. The flames still covered her, flickering violently. "Focus on your breathing," he gentled his tone at her face, feeling crappy about how he kept making her cry and get upset. "My Hellflame is volatile, so the first thing you need to do is learn to focus on your breathing. It helps you to narrow down your focus and learn to feel the flames."

He watched her intently, nodding approvingly when she did as she was told, allowing her to pull back the flames and make them disappear.

"You can't let your emotions go out of control when you're still at a level where you haven't mastered them," he lectured, mind still whirling. Still, her wet eyes and quivering baby cheeks made him cringe. He patted her head awkwardly. "Look…there's no such thing as a bad Quirk. Just bad people who misuse their Quirks," he told her, remembering what she was saying about her Quirk. "Besides, you said their Quirks come back, right? It's not forever."

Thank God. He'd freak out if his Quirk was gone.

"Sensei said I  _could_  make it forever," she whispered, lowering her eyes.

He shuddered, staring at her at that. "Fuck, kid, you're five. You're not some super villain or an up and coming bad guy, alright?" he said, pushing away the horrible thought of having his Quirk gone forever and the fear. Then he realized he cursed in front of a five year old and sighed. "Don't repeat that word, Izuku," he inwardly groaned. Times like this made him wish he was  _marginally_  like All Might…No, never mind. Fuck that.

"Fuck?" she asked, blinking up at him innocently. "Kacchan says it all the time though."

He twitched. "Whoever they are needs to shut their mouth then." So did he. But he was a Pro-Hero, not a fucking role model. "Come on. Grab your stuff. It's probably a good thing you're staying over my home. I'll teach you to at least control yourself and my Quirk, so you don't accidentally burn down your home or something."

She gathered up her clothing for the week and then grabbed her toothbrush, before handing her bag to him when he gestured for it.

He had a feeling it was going to be a long week.

* * *

When Izuku saw Endeavor's house, she gaped and stared at the massive estate in awe.

"Wow, it's so big, Endeavor-san" she said.

He gave her a strange look, rubbing the back of his head. "You…don't have to call me by my Hero name. Just, uh…my name is —"

"Todoroki Enji," she cut in, eyes wide.

He gave her another strange look. "Right…fangirl."

Her cheeks puffed out. "Don't underestimate a fangirl!" she declared.

Enji (Hee~ She got to call a  _Hero_  by his name!) turned from her and snickered quietly, but she still heard it. She pouted and puffed out her cheeks even more.

_Izuku, I love your_ —

She inhaled shakily and closed down her thoughts, taking Enji's hand when he went around his car to her side and opened the door for her. He pulled her out gently and then grabbed her bag.

"My kids are inside," he said. "You'll meet them soon."

"Otou-san?" they both heard and Izuku turned towards the source, seeing a pretty girl with glasses hiding turquoise eyes and white hair with red highlights pulled up in a high ponytail.

She saw Enji's face mold into a more stern look. "Fuyumi, come here," he ordered and she watched the two curiously. Enji seemed a lot more serious with his daughter…

"Fuyumi, this is Midoriya Izuku. She'll be staying here for the week, so watch over her. Do you understand?" He said firmly, while his daughter flinched and nodded quickly.

Izuku frowned and reached out, smiling widely at Enji when he looked down at her.

_I love your smile._

"Todoroki-san, I bet Fuyumi-chan and I will become great friends! So no worries, 'kay?" she beamed happily at him.

He looked down at her and his eyebrows scrunched together. Then his face softened and he nodded, patting her head.

"Go with my daughter. She'll keep watch over you and introduce you to my other kids. I'll get a room for you ready."

She skipped over to Fuyumi and shyly smiled. "Hi."

For some reason, Fuyumi was looking at her in wonder. But she quickly snapped out of it and grabbed Izuku's hand, smiling back widely.

"Hi, Izuku-chan! Let's go meet Touya and Natsuo," she said before looking at her father.

He gave her a dismissive wave before walking ahead of them. "I'll let Shoto off of training today. Introduce the two."

Izuku watched him walk away before her attention was drawn back to Fuyumi when her hand was tugged.

"Izuku-chan, you must be amazing!" she said in amazement. "Otou-san is always serious and harsh with us, but he's like a marshmallow with you."

Izuku giggled. Haha, marshmallows~ Just like the ones Okaa-san used to have to make smores for her —

She withdrew a little bit into herself and she knew Fuyumi noticed.

"Eh? Are you okay, Izu-chan?" Fuyumi asked her gently, her pretty eyes soft and warm towards her.

Izuku sniffled a little. "I miss my Okaa-san…"

Fuyumi didn't ask what happened, which she was grateful for, but she did lean towards Izuku and hugged her.

"I do too," she said, making her confused. She wondered what Fuyumi meant by that, but didn't ask like Fuyumi hadn't asked her. Fuyumi moved away after a moment. "Let's go meet my brothers, okay? You'll like them!"

And Izuku did like them when she met them. Touya, the oldest, had bright red hair and was the calmest of the Todoroki children. Fuyumi was second oldest and was kind and a little frazzled at times. Natsuo was the middle child, with a complete head of white hair, and was the most cheerful. Fuyumi told her that there was another brother named Shoto, but she hadn't seen him yet.

"Wanna play tag?" Natsuo asked her eagerly.

"Yes please!"

Together, they played tag for a few minutes before she noticed a boy with both white and red hair watching them from afar, looking like he was hiding behind a wooden pillar. She stopped running around and excitedly ran over to him, startling him.

"Are you Shoto?" she asked. "I'm Izuku! Todoroki-san said you didn't have to train today so you can play with us! Want to play with us, Shoto-kun?" she asked rapidly.

He looked at her with wide eyes, eyes that she noticed were different colored. She thought that was really cool!

"O-okay," he finally said, voice quiet.

She beamed at him and grabbed his hand, dragging him after her to go back to the others who had been watching the whole exchange silently and in a subdued manner. When they rejoined the others, Izuku happily tagged Shoto and exclaimed "You're it!" before running away as she laughed.

They quit around dinnertime when they were called in to clean up and get ready to eat. At the dinner table though, she noticed the tense atmosphere and the kids being silent and avoiding looking at their father. Enji was the most sternest she'd ever seen him.

Feeling uncomfortable, she tugged at Enji's arm, ignoring the wary and panicked looks of the others. Enji turned to her with a frown and she flinched back. That made him sigh and his look turned gentler towards her, like it had earlier.

"What is it, Izuku?" he asked.

"What did you do today?" she asked and he blinked.

"I…After I brought you here, I had a room for you readied while I verified with some people that it was okay you stayed here. Then I called my agency and asked about any villain activity in the area…"

She started to pepper him with questions that he diligently answered, cheerfully swinging her legs. If the others were looking at her with incredulous looks that they hid from their father, then she didn't notice.

* * *

The next day, after having slept comfortably in a large but plain guest room, Izuku was woken up by a knock on her door. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes, she crawled out of bed and went to the door, opening it to find Enji on the other side.

He stared at her before sighing. She thought she heard him mutter, "All Might pajamas?", but she ignored it. All Might was awesome and so was her pajamas.

"Izuku, we have to start your training today," he said immediately. "We only have a week until your father comes and then I'm not sure if he would agree to more training, so I have to at least make sure you're capable of controlling them."

"Okay, Todoroki-san," she said and walked out of the room, before being halted by Enji's hand on her shoulder just as she walked past him.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She tilted her head. "Training?"

"Not in All Might pajamas."

After she'd gotten ready for the morning and then eaten breakfast, Enji led her to the training hall. Inside, she saw Shoto training himself and she was watching for a bit until Enji called out to him.

"That's enough, Shoto," he barked out. "We'll continue later. You may go to your room and study," he glanced down at her before taking a deep breath, "or go to your siblings…"

Shoto shot his father a wide-eyed stare before glancing at her. He nodded, bowed at his father, and then hurried out of the training hall.

"Am I going to do something like that, Todoroki-san?" she asked curiously.

He shook his head. "You don't really need to learn to fight with it," he said, his tone gentling again. "I just want to make sure you can control… _your_  Hellflame enough that you know how to handle it. Okay, Izuku?"

"Okay!"

He sat her down on the floor before sitting down across from her. For the next half hour, he was instructing her on breathing exercises. Then he slowly moved onto meditation and then finally he was letting her bring out her Hellflame. After a while of just learning to get it to turn off and on, he moved on to teaching her to then learn to 'feel' the flames. And then she was learning to control it and manage the movement of the flames.

She didn't know how long time passed, but before she knew it, it was time for dinner already. Enji seemed surprised too.

"I'll just…train with Shoto tomorrow," he muttered to himself.

He led her to the dining room where his kids were already waiting, and she saw they looked stunned at seeing them enter. Shoto looked practically shell-shocked.

"Shoto, you have to wake up early tomorrow morning," Enji ordered while sitting down.

"Y-yes, Otou-san," Shoto stammered.

She tugged on Enji's arm and waited until he looked at her.

"Todoroki-san, what time should I wake up?"

He looked caught off guard and unsure. "Uh…whenever you'd like, Izuku."

She nodded and started humming, starting in on her food cheerfully.

* * *

Enji woke up his son bright and early, had him get ready and then brought him to the training room. But he stood in shock at the entrance, seeing Izuku already awake and practicing turning her Hellflame off and on. He scratched his head, looking between his son and Izuku. It was one week…

He pushed Shoto off gently, who looked at him like he'd never seen him before. "Go on. Hang out with your brothers and sister," he muttered.

Izuku really only had one week with him, and he had to make the most of it to make sure she was trained enough in their shared Quirk.

Once Shoto had left, Enji entered the room. "Good morning, Izuku-chan," he greeted fondly.

She focused on him and smiled cheerfully. "Morning, Todoroki-san!" she chirped up.

"Are you ready to train for today?"

"Un!"

And so the rest of the week past by in that manner.

* * *

Her father was home and waiting for her. Her mom's funeral was the next day.

That meant she was leaving and couldn't play with the others or train with Enji or —

_Izuku, I love your smile_.

Everything, everything that had happened before rushed back into her head and she was remembering. There was nothing to distract her, no one to keep her from thinking about her dead mom, or the fact that she didn't know what was going to happen to her anymore.

"Are you okay?" Shoto's quiet voice greeted her and she breathed out in relief, giving the other a shaky smile.

"Hi, Shoto-kun," she said, trying not to sound like she was going to cry. She didn't want to be a crybaby, like Kacchan always called her.

Shoto walked over to her and sat down next to her, and they stared out at the koi pond in the yard.

"Todoroki-san says you don't use your flames anymore," she said, remembering something Enji had offhandedly brought up in frustration one time.

Shoto scowled, briefly touching the scarred flesh around one of his eyes. "I won't ever use them for battle. I hate 'em."

Izuku knew better than to ask why because she didn't want to be nosy and rude. Instead, she held out her hand and lit it up, seeing him flinch. But then he stared at her flames in fascination.

"It's green," he murmured.

"Uh huh," she nodded. "Green like my eyes and hair," she giggled and grinned when she saw him give her a little smile of his own. "Do you want it?" she asked.

Shoto looked at her in surprise before nodding hesitantly. Together, they looked for a small jar and when they found it, she carefully put the flame inside.

"Keep it and remember me!"

"Okay, Izu-chan," he shyly said, using the nickname his siblings had started to use on her first day there.

Honestly, Izuku didn't want to leave.

Started 8/2/18 — Completed 8/3/18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahem, confession: this and last chapter are my two favorites right now. Another confession: I admit that this story came to be mainly because it started with the fact I wanted Endeavor to accidentally kill Inko and hurt Izuku, have that traumatize the both of them, and then have it turn out that they were soulmates later on and have them deal with that shit. Because I'm a horrible person. And I'm not nice to characters. Yep. Thank you to everyone enjoying so far and please remember to leave a review XD
> 
> Quick Points:
> 
> 1\. Enji: Gonna start early on that manga redemption arc…sort of~ Also, Enji just isn't good with kids. Like at all. (Tut tut, cursing in front of one…) Also, that slap XD Sorry, I keep laughing because after I wrote that, I kept thinking about Carrie. Looks like someone has been taking lessons from Ms. Dejardins...
> 
> 2\. Inko: I'm sorry. You didn't deserve this.


	4. Trudge On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Playlist:  
> So Cold by Ben Cocks  
> Stand By Me by Ben E King

When Enji took her home that day, it was gray and looking to start raining any moment. He'd brought her to her apartment, which opened as soon as Enji had knocked. Her father stood there, looking terribly angry as he saw Enji and he'd pulled her firmly into the apartment and behind him.

"Thank you for taking care of Izuku, but you're no longer needed,  _Hero_ ," her father spat out and closed the door in Enji's face. Izuku flinched.

When her dad turned to her, his harsh look turned aggrieved. "Go to your room, Izuku. The clothes you're wearing for tomorrow are on your bed. Put it aside."

She swallowed and nodded carefully, turning away from him and scuttling quickly to her room. Inside her dark room, she leaned against her closed door and cried as she slid down. She missed her mom and she was doing her best to smile despite everything. It just wasn't working.

She wished she was still back at the Todoroki Estate and could run around with Shoto, Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Touya…Even training with Enji was fun and she didn't think of or remember her mom.

Walking over to her computer, she turned it on and waited for it to boot up. Then she searched for her favorite video and played it, sitting in front of her computer and watching All Might save the day and smile brightly.

She wished he could save her right now.

* * *

When the funeral came, it wasn't raining yet either, but the storm clouds were gathering and the skies were a much darker gray. She didn't really pay too much attention to it though, nor did she really pay attention to the funeral. She wore her black dress and stood by her father's side, staring at the ground the entire time and staying in her head. Her father held onto her hand and his grip was tight and borderline painful.

At the cemetery, they were burying her mother finally and people were leaving her and her father behind. Because of the damage to her body, the casket had been closed and she hadn't been able to see her mother. Not that she would have been able to, since her mom wouldn't be recognizable after the way she'd died.

"M-Midoriya-san…" she heard a familiar voice and saw Enji to the side, dressed up in dark clothes and looking at her father hesitantly as he kept a respectable distance.

She saw her father's face contort into an infuriated look that was infused with hate.

"What are you doing here?" her dad yelled at Enji. "You've done enough! You and your kind…You Heroes think you're owed everything and can do whatever the hell you want! That you can get away with everything! Well, go to hell and stay there, you bastard! All of you are a bunch of worthless fakes!"

She could see her father getting angrier and angrier, wisps of fire and smoke escaping from his mouth and nostrils. Knowing that Enji's Quirk was finally back and that he was stronger and could easily manipulate flames, she grabbed hold of her dad's arm and willed her Quirk to activate. She could feel the pull of her father's Quirk and feel it being taken into her body.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out, even as she took her dad's Quirk.

He yanked his arm away from her, looking at her in betrayal. "And you!" he hissed out. "You could've done something! You could have saved your mother!"

Izuku jerked away from him, staring at him. Her lower lip trembled while she felt tears prick her eyes. Her father turned sharply on his heel and stomped away from them.

She sniffed once, twice…and then she started bawling loudly. She was alone in the cemetery now, minus Enji, but she felt like her world was collapsing around her and she had to finally acknowledge how her life had changed irrevocably.

She wished Sensei was there. He would know what to do and would make sure she was alright, just like he had when he'd stayed by her side that time, making sure she was okay.

Hands heavily fell on her shoulders and she saw Enji kneeling in front of her through her tears.

"He's angry. He didn't mean what he said to you," the red-haired man said solemnly. She didn't want to tell him that she was sure her father meant it, especially because he of all people would know her abilities the best. "I…I  _am_  a shit Hero. If it wasn't for me, you would still have your mom."

There was a niggling voice in her head that whispered that was true, but she forcefully pushed it away.

"I'm guessing he won't be too happy if you were to keep training with me," he sighed, running a hand through his red hair. He looked at her then, clenching his jaw. "Look, if you ever need anything…you know where I live and where my agency is. Just ask for me and you'll have open access any time. Any of my subordinates will know and understand, alright?"

"Okay," she whispered, sniffling.

He used his thumbs to wipe away her tears. "No more crying now…"

She started biting at her lip and watched him silently. "Todoroki-san…be nicer to your kids, 'kay?" she dared to say quietly.

Enji winced. "Izuku, I'm a shit dad. I don't think I can be or know how."

"Try please," she said, remembering Shoto's sad demeanor and the way Fuyumi said she missed her mom. "And let them see their mom?"

"…Yeah…Yeah, okay. Only if you promise to be a Hero and prove your dad wrong about us," he said and she gave him a shaky smile.

"Pinky promise," she said, remembering Sensei.

"Pinky promise," he muttered, looking embarrassed.

She'd always wanted to be a Hero. This was just another reason for her to become one.

* * *

Enji dropped her off home since her father was gone and there was no one else at the cemetery. For a while though, she was alone in the apartment and she walked around the empty place without purpose.

When the door finally opened, she had made tea and sat at the table with it. He'd taken a while, so she grabbed the cups of tea and used her father's Quirk to heat their tea up. She waited for her father to take a seat across from her.

"I'm going back to America tonight," he announced emotionlessly.

She flinched back and stared at him in shock. "A-already?"

"I'm going," he repeated firmly. "Are you coming with me or are you going to stay here?"

"You're…going to let me stay?" she asked, not sure if she was hearing right.

He frowned but nodded. "You can stay in this apartment on your own. I will have it paid for and taken cared of. I know your mother taught you how to take care of yourself and how to do things, and I know you have common sense. What is your choice?"

She stared down at the table, her hands clenched tightly together on her lap.

He received his answer and within a few minutes had gone to his room to gather his things, leaving the apartment soon after without another word to her.

* * *

A month had passed by her. There were times where she wanted to come crying to Enji's agency or have Sensei come stay with her again, but she didn't want to bother Enji anymore and she hadn't seen or heard from Sensei since that time.

It was really lonely but she was able to take care of herself on her own. Like now, it was time for her to make breakfast, so she grabbed her stool and dragged it to the stove. She cracked a few eggs and looked at her mom's recipe book, deciding she'd try to make an omelet and not just scrambled eggs like usual. She had to be grown up! She was turning six after all, so that meant that she was getting older and couldn't be babied. Especially since her mom was gone and wouldn't be babying her anymore.

Realizing she was going to be out of eggs and milk soon, she used up what she had left and had her breakfast. She couldn't go to the convenience store nearby; she'd have to go to a grocery store to go shopping for stuff.

After she was done cleaning up after herself, she put on her shoes and a jacket and walked out of her apartment.

As she traveled outside and went to the bus stop (getting onto the bus once it arrived), she tried to remember where she had to go. After a while of wracking her brain, she realized that she had missed her stop and was now lost. She exited out at the next stop frantically, trying to see anything familiar. She started to walk around, hoping she didn't look freaked out. Eventually, she got desperate and was starting to feel hungry and thirsty. Running across a building that looked abandoned, she saw signs that it wasn't and entered it, hoping to get directions (and maybe something to eat and drink).

She almost went back out though, when she saw that there was a strange purple-black mist guy behind the counter and the place was empty.

"Now what is a child doing in a place like this?" the mist man asked and she squeaked.

"Uh…uh…uh…"

Her stomach growled and she blushed heavily. Straightening up, she determinedly walked over and struggled to sit on one of the tall stools in front of the counter.

"Um…I want something to drink," she declared. Then she pointed at the bottles behind him, squinting to look at the labels and not recognizing anything. "Any one of those!"

To her embarrassment, he started chuckling at her. "Little girl, aren't you a little young to be in here and drink those?"

She was confused and probably looked it. He shook his head. "This is a bar, young one, and those are alcohol."

Face bright red, she wiggled around in her seat. "Oh! Um…" Her stomach growled again and she nibbled at her lip.

"Hold on a second," he hmmed thoughtfully, leaving her behind. A few minutes later, as she started to swing her legs, he came back out with a plate of cut up plain sandwiches and a chocolate milkshake. Smiling widely, she clapped her hands in delight.

"Ohh, thank you so much, Mist Man!"

He was chuckling again. "My name is Kurogiri."

"My name is Izuku!" she said cheerfully, before eagerly taking a bite of a piece of a sandwich.

But when she got to the milkshake, she hummed blissfully and closed her eyes. "So yummy~"

"I do not usually make milkshakes," Kurogiri told her. "I am pleased that you like it," he said politely.

She grinned at him. "Kuro-san, it is so good! I really like it!"

He quietly chuckled and she saw what she interpreted as a smile.

After she was done, she told him what she'd been trying to do and he helped her with directions, even mapping out a route for her to take. He offered to take her home then and she slipped her hand into his misty one, following him out of the bar. He kept to the shadows and she kind of understood it, thinking it had to do with his Quirk. He was a weird dark mist after all.

"Where is your mother? Or your father?" he asked her once they were nearing her home.

Her smile died down and she timidly stared at the ground as they walked.

"She died," she muttered, not saying anything about her dad.

"I see," was all he said and she was thankful he didn't push for more information. "Take care now, little Izuku. Bars have no place for little girls like you."

She pouted but said her goodbyes to him too. However, it wasn't the last they saw each other, as Izuku was determined to come back.

So much so, that she ended up coming there every day for a week.

* * *

It was Sunday and she was sipping on one of Kurogiri's special milkshakes again. She tugged at the hem of her dress, mindful of the lace but still swinging her legs.

"What a cute dress you're wearing today," Kurogiri complimented while wiping down the counter-top.

Izuku giggled and smiled at him. "Masaru-ojisan used to work with Mama and is Kacchan's Papa. He does my clothing now for some reason, and delivers a package full of clothes for me to wear. It's usually always dresses though," she whined a little.

"Dresses are cute on you though," he commented neutrally, though she swore he looked slightly teasing. She didn't care what anyone said; she knew she was right about his expressions, even though his face usually looked the same!

"I —"

She was cut off when a door at the back of the bar opened and in stepped in a strange young man with light blue hair. He stopped short, confused at her presence, before frowning and walking over to her menacingly. Scared stiff and feeling shivers run up her spine, she was unable to say or do anything as he approached her.

To her surprise, she felt herself being grabbed backwards and then she was being pulled and pushed into a weird portal thing that was the same colors as Kurogiri. She found herself now in front of her apartment suddenly, wondering how she'd gotten there.

Worried about Kurogiri and still a bit scared of that man she saw, she went into her apartment and thought about what happened. It was only an hour later that she'd gotten any answers. There was a knock on her door and she stood on her tip toes on top of a stool to see through the eye hole. Seeing Kurogiri, she hurried to open the door.

"Kuro-san!" she exclaimed once the door was opened.

"May I come in?" he asked politely and she was already opening the door wider for him. "I apologize for earlier, little Izuku. That was…one of my employers."

She let a soft 'oh' escape her mouth. She hoped her presence there hadn't gotten him in trouble.

"You cannot come back there anymore, Izuku," he told her firmly. She felt herself wanting to cry. "I'm sorry, little Izuku, but it is too dangerous."

Izuku reluctantly nodded. "Bye bye, Kuro-san," she said, trying not to sound so sad or like she was about to cry. She quickly leaned forward and hugged him, drawing back just as quickly.

He gently rubbed her head. "Goodbye, little Izuku."

She saw him open some sort of portal and she guessed that was his real Quirk. He gave her a small bow before stepping through it, the portal closing behind him.

And so, once more, Izuku was alone again.

She went to sleep feeling lonely again and when she woke up, she was still plagued with loneliness. But a knock on the door confused her, so she went to go peek through the eye hole and saw nothing.

Yet, when she opened it curiously, she looked down and saw a glass of vanilla milkshake waiting for her.

Started 8/4/18 — Completed 8/4/18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo, what a heavy chapter last time. This is…also a little of a heavy chapter too xD Geez, I need to lighten up. Ah well! Anyway, I wanted to get this out since I'm going back to work tomorrow to help teach kids, and that means I'm not sure when I'll be able to really update again. I'll do my best since the response and reaction to this fic has been phenomenal (Wow, really, guys!). So thanks to everyone and I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please remember to leave a review!
> 
> Quick Points:
> 
> 1\. Kurogiri: Ho! I bet you all were expecting All Might, weren't you? Got to shake things up, you know? Keep everyone on their toes~ Buuut I enjoyed sticking Kurogiri in there.
> 
> 2\. Masaru Bakugo: I love the fact he's canonically a fashion designer, so I decided he and Inko used to work together before…you know…and now he designs and makes Izuku's clothing, and brings a package for her every beginning of the month :D


	5. The Degrees Left Between You and Me

Two things happened after meeting Kurogiri.

Izuku turned six and Sensei contacted her. It also happened at the same time. On her sixth birthday, she had a package delivered to her. It came with a short letter with unrecognizable handwriting, and wasn't too big.

_Happy Birthday, Izuku. It is said that there are to be no more than six degrees of separation between any two people on Earth. I am always available in an emergency._

_Sensei_

In the package, a published version of a playscript called  _Six Degrees of Separation_  by John Guare was included, as well as a cellphone. She gawped at it before, like the child she was, she gleefully reached for the phone and jumped around her apartment.

"I got a phone!" she squealed. She was six and she already had a phone! Wait until Kacchan heard about this! He was going to be so jealous.

Though she was excited about her phone and wanted to mess around with it already, she also was curious about the play that he'd sent along with it. She flipped through it and thought she could start reading it that night. Her eyes caught a long paragraph that looked to be specifically underlined.

" _I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation. Between us and everybody else on this planet. The President of the United States. A gondolier in Venice. Fill in the names. I find that A) tremendously comforting that we're so close and B) like Chinese water torture that we're so close. Because you have to find the right six people to make the connection. It's not just big names. It's anyone. A native in a rain forest. A Tierra del Fuegan. An Eskimo. I am bound to everyone on this planet by a trail of six people. It's a profound thought. How Paul found us. How to find the man whose son he pretends to be. Or perhaps is his son, although I doubt it. How every person is a new door, opening up into other worlds. Six degrees of separation between me and everyone else on this planet. But to find the right six people."_

She wondered what that meant and why Sensei had wanted her to read this play (or why he'd marked out that specific part). Maybe she'd understand if she read the whole thing? Ah well, it wasn't like she'd read it already or anything. She might not even understand the whole thing at her age. There was some things and words she'd have to look up after all.

Looking outside, she noted how dark it was, but she was hungry. The convenience store was just around the block, so she could just walk over and buy something really quick. It was a good thing they were open late!

Humming to herself, she walked out of her apartment and locked up, before walking downstairs and then continuing on her way. When she looked up though, she saw a man on a roof, lying still and not moving. Curious, she decided she'd go to the convenience store after she checked on the man. Maybe he needed help?

* * *

Aizawa Shota wasn't a fan of stakeouts. They usually ended up long and tedious, and most of the time he just wanted to nod off. Suppressing a yawn, he shifted on the roof to get more comfortable.

"Hey, Oji-san, are you okay?"

He jerked back at the whisper, spotting a  _freaking kid_. How'd she get there without him noticing and  _why_  was she there?

"What are you doing here, Kid?" he snapped quietly.

She blinked owlishly at him. "You looked dead on the roof. I was making sure you weren't dead."

Shota stared at her in disbelief before shaking himself out of it. "Shouldn't you be home with your parents? Being outside this late isn't good for little girls like you."

"Papa is overseas and Okaa-san is dead," she blinked at him again even as she frowned, though he inwardly winced. "I was hungry so I was going to go to the convenience store. But then I saw you and was curious."

"I thought you said you were checking to see I wasn't dead," he said sarcastically, eying where his target would be exiting the building from.

"I was. But I was bored too, so I came to see what you were doing."

He twitched and sighed in aggravation. However, at that moment, his target finally appeared and he quickly told the little girl to stay put, rushing and jumping off the building to catch the villain by surprise. He activated his Quirk, but the guy was pretty good and he grunted at the effort it took him to fight the guy off. The villain got a lucky shot in, hitting Shota in the face and busting his nose, only to be… _bitten_? From behind by that little girl from before, the villain's arm taking the assault as the man howled.

It was enough for Shota to recover and stop the man's Quirk again, only this time the little girl's (Still latched onto the villain? What a strong bite this girl had…) mouth began to have flames flickering from inside and then the man's arm caught on fire. Completely distracted in pain, the villain didn't even notice Shota knock him out since he'd been too busy trying to get the girl off. He helped the girl get off of the villain and land safely onto the ground. Then he bopped her head lightly.

"Brat, don't get involve in dangerous things and don't use your Quirk so carelessly like that! Don't you know it's illegal to use your Quirk in public?" he told her. Geez, this girl…

She pouted up at him. "But the law says you can use it if it's self-defense. Like if you're under attack or if someone's under attack or-or-or —"

"I get it, Kid," he said, rolling his eyes, though a smidgen of fondness was sneaking into him. He shook his head and sighed. "Alright, you were going to the store, right? Let me tie this guy up tight and call the police over, then I'll take you. You really shouldn't be out late, Kid."

"My name's not 'kid'!" she huffed at him, narrowing her eyes. He supposed she was trying to look angry, but she looked more like an angry kitten and pretty harmless. "It's Izuku."

"Mmhm," he said absentmindedly, binding the villain up as tight as possible to make sure there would be no escapes, and then started to contact the local authorities. At the corner of his eye, he saw Izuku meander towards the villain. He opened his mouth to tell her to stay away, but then she sat down heavily right on top of the villain, who groaned in pain. He hid his grin, clearing his throat as he reported through the phone.

After that was all settled and the villain picked up, he led the way to the convenience store he remembered seeing on the way there. She was humming along the way, but it wasn't a song he recognized. Inside the store, he followed after her leisurely, while she looked around.

"So what are you looking to have?" he asked casually, watching her carefully.

She skipped over to the back, where the desserts were stacked. "Kuzumochi!"

He sweatdropped. "Izu-rin, it's pretty late for dessert…"

Her pout was back. "But Oji-san, I'm craving kuzumochi."

Really? Why kuzumochi? Still, he didn't think it'd be good for her to snack on that before going to bed.

"It's too sweet," he lectured, though he faltered at her trembling lower lip and the sudden onset of watery eyes. "Just…find something else to eat with it. An actual snack."

She hesitated. "I have to budget, Oji-san, so I don't think I can."

Budget? The hell this kid is talking about? Shota knew her parents were essentially gone, but what about her guardian? And why would a kid like her need to know about budgeting?

"Look, I'll pay for it," he insisted. "Get something that's not going to give you a sugar rush."

The only person he knew liked kuzumochi so much, and probably wouldn't mind it as a late night snack, was Endeavor. That was actually not a well known fact, but Shota was good at what he did and he could get information on most anyone really.

"Really?" her pretty green eyes went wide.

"Go on, Izu-rin. I'll wait upfront."

She cheered quietly and snatched up the packaged kuzumochi, before heading off to find something else. When she came to him a little bit later, she was holding onto packaged onigiri and Shota nodded in satisfaction. Fresh onigiri tasted the best, but store packaged wasn't bad.

He grabbed the packaged goods from her and handed them to the cashier, quickly paying for it before heading out. He'd bring her home, lecture the fuck out of her guardians for letting her out so late to get herself some food, and then peacefully head home to pass out and hopefully get some sleep in.

She was back to humming again and he was curious, so he ended up asking her what it was while they walked.

"Eh? Sensei told me it's called  _Sweet Child O Mine_  by some band called Guns N' Roses," she said and Shota raised an eyebrow. Not only an old band and song, but he was surprised that a little girl like her knew it and even liked it enough to hum it.

"Huh, wouldn't have expected it from a runt from you," he said and hid his smile as she puffed up angrily.

"Oji-san!"

He laughed then and ruffled her hair. "Just teasing, Izu-rin."

"Hey! I never got your name, Oji-san, and you already gave me a nickname and everything!"

Shota mentally face palmed. "Izu-rin, next time you meet a stranger, try to get their name before just running off with them. Geez, ever heard of Stranger Danger?"

Izuku blinked and tilted her head, and she was like a freaking kitten so he couldn't help rolling his eyes and patting her head.

"Shota," he told her. "My name's Shota."

"Since you call me Izu-rin, you get to be Sho-yan!" which made him sweatdropped. Then again, he  _did_  start it with the whole 'Izu-rin' thing.

"Whatever, Izu-rin. Are we close to where you live?" Also another thing he should lecture her and her guardians about. Don't lead strangers to your home!

"Right here, Sho-yan," she grabbed his hand and pulled forward.

It wasn't long until she reached a corner, moved to an apartment complex, and found stairs. They went up and there was a row of apartments on either side of the open hallway. She led him to the one that had been closest to the stairway, and reached for a key in her pocket, unlocking it and then opening the door. She waited for him expectantly and he followed her in, flicking on the lights for her.

He was caught off guard at how silent and lonely the place was, and when he looked around, the place looked as lonely.

"Tadaima," she said and he waited for someone to come out and say "Okaeri" in return.

No one did.

"Do you want tea or water, Sho-yan?" she asked him, facing him with a bright smile and Shota was starting to get the idea, swallowing down the lump that was forming in his throat.

"Tea would be good," he said. "Kuzumochi is good with tea after all."

"Yah! It is, it is! Just a sec, 'kay?" she said as she rushed to the kitchen.

"Slow down," he said automatically, looking around. "You'll hurt yourself, if you rush like that."

"Okay!"

So she was living alone then. Everything he saw and took note of was telling him this was the case. So far, his ears caught nothing, so there was no one else in that apartment. No one asleep or pretending to be asleep, and no one hiding out. It was empty of anyone but him and the girl.

"Izu-rin, do you have a guardian?" he asked suddenly, watching her.

She stood still at the stove and he got his answer from that. When the kettle started whistling, she turned it off and carefully grabbed it. He worried she was going to burn herself, but she was careful. Even as his hands itched to take over, it wasn't his place and she was already on her own for who knows how long. If he took her independence now and kept her from learning, he'd be crippling her. God knows that if she was trying to learn to live on her own, then making her dependent would just make things harder on her.

Still, he kept a close watch just in case, because accidents still happen and there was still a thing called 'help'.

After she made the tea, she brought them over and he unwrapped the onigiri.

"Papa says that if I stay in Japan, I'll have to stay here in Okaa-san's home," she said finally. "It's okay 'cause I don't want to move and this is Okaa-san's home. I'm a big girl too, you know, and I can take care of myself. So even if it's lonely, this is my home and I'm going to take care of it," Izuku looked him in the face and if he looked a little deeper, he could see the grief that she was trying to hide.

He nodded and gave her a small smile, avoiding any pity. He felt that she would be the type to not like pity.

"You're a good girl, Izu-rin. You've done a very good job so far."

So afterwards, he made sure she got ready for bed and wouldn't go out again that night, and left her behind after she'd healed his nose, heading back home thoughtfully. In fact, he'd been so concerned about her living on her own that he'd not noticed that he'd seen her use two different Quirks that night…

* * *

When Izuku woke up the next morning, it was to a persistent knocking. Confused and sleepy, she almost forgot that her milkshake was about to be dropped off soon. Maybe that was Kurogiri!

Excitedly leaping out of her bed, she rushed to the door and unlocked it quickly, throwing it open. Instead of Kurogiri though, she saw it was Shota and she felt momentarily disappointed. Then she felt confused and then elated.

"Eh? Sho-yan? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I figure I'd drop by, see how you're doing after last night," he said tiredly, looking just as tired. "I'll make breakfast this morning. You have school, right?"

"Un!"

"Okay, then I'll make something for you while you get ready," he told her and she let him in, feeling giddy.

"This is a great late birthday gift," she nodded to herself.

"It was your birthday?" he asked in surprise.

"Uh huh. Yesterday," she admitted.

"Happy Belated Birthday, Izu-rin. Now hurry it up or you'll be late, Kiddo," he pushed her in the direction of her room.

"Okay, okay!"

She got dressed and brushed her teeth, quickly grabbing her backpack and heading out to see him already making buttered toast, with scrambled eggs and sausages ready.

"Here, eat up," he pointed to the plates. He went to her refrigerator and shuffled around in it, muttering to himself. "You don't have a lot of vegetables in here," he noted in disapproval, and she winced. "And that's a lot of kuzumochi…why the craving?"

Ah, she supposed she couldn't really tell him that when she stayed with Enji, there was a lot of it and he'd always let her have some?

But ick. Vegetables! They were  _gross_.

"I can't actually be around often, though I'll try to drop by every once and a while to see how you're doing," he straightened up and closed the refrigerator door. "But I'm definitely going to deliver a package of vegetables and fruits every month. So you better eat them, you hear me?" he pointed a finger at her.

She made a face, but reluctantly nodded. Shota was like Okaa-san like that, always telling her to eat her greens and stuff. But eh, it felt kind of nice to have someone lecture her about them again…

"I promise, Sho-yan," she sniffed. She didn't like it, but she'd do it! It was supposed to be healthy after all, and even Sensei and Enji had made her promise to look after her health.

But it was veggies!

"Good. Now eat up," he said and she nodded, starting to pile the food onto her plate. But then she glanced at the time.

"Just a second, Sho-yan," she said and slipped off of her seat to head to the door. Like clockwork, there was her milkshake. She grabbed it and headed back inside, intending to finish her food before starting in on her milkshake, when she noticed Shota looking at it weirdly.

"Where did that come from?" he asked.

"Every morning, Kuro-san leaves me a milkshake," she said nonchalantly.

"And who's this 'Kuro-san'?" he asked in suspension.

"He's a Mist Man I met when I got lost in Kamino Ward one day," she said cheerfully, remembering it.

Shota looked alarmed. "Lost? Kamino Ward?  _Mist Man_?"

She nodded while watching him curiously.

For the next minute, she had to detail exactly what happened to him while he examined her milkshake thoroughly. Only after he was definitely sure it was okay did he allow her to have it.

"A bar in Kamino Ward, huh," she heard him mutter. He shook his head. "Come on, are you ready? You'll be late for school."

"Uwah! Sho-yan, you distracted me! Let's go!"

After that time, he did like he said he would. It wasn't often, as he said his job required him to be in different places and often all over Japan, but he did check in on her when he was in the area. But every month, for the past two months, she did receive a box of vegetables and fruits. And as promised, she did her best to eat them all and not waste them.

Still, when she got a knock on the door one day, she expected it would be him or at the least (though unlikely) Kurogiri.

Seeing Sensei again made her scream in happiness and throw herself at him.

* * *

When he'd gone away, he'd intended to keep a low profile and finish healing (though he hadn't needed it due to Izuku's excellent power) and look into his businesses and plans overseas, all the while intending to look into Midoriya Hisashi and have a word with him. If he was the one who truly knew and was the most informed about Izuku's abilities and skills, then All For One needed a word with him.

To his bafflement, despite his own vast resources and connections,  _he was unable to locate Midoriya_.

He knew, from his talks with Izuku, that her father was supposed to be in New York. He'd even found the… _mansion_  that was owned by Izuku (and it was owned by her, oddly enough) and the SoHo apartment that was apparently owned by her as well. There was also a villa in California in her name. In all honesty, it was like Midoriya Hisashi was a non-entity and didn't exist.

All For One couldn't remember being this frustrated before.

For as old as he was, he'd never had much trouble attaining what he wanted, especially if it was information. The fact that this man was eluding him was troubling and getting to be aggravating.

But then he got a call from Tomura, who had gone on a rant that baffled him at first, having started the moment he'd answered the phone.

"Sensei, Sensei! Stupid Kurogiri had some dumb human pet in here and wouldn't let me play with her! Why did he have her here and feeding her like some dumb pet? Her and her stupid dress and her stupid green hair and —"

"What did you say?" he interrupted sharply, bringing silence on the other end. "What color was her hair and her eyes?"

"I don't know about her eyes," Tomura said mulishly. "But she had green hair. Kurogiri won't say anything else about her."

Frowning, All For One did his best to keep his tone even as he ordered Kurogiri onto the phone. "Kurogiri, I will be waiting at our meeting place here in America. Warp there so you can warp us back."

It was fortunate he wasn't far away from the agreed meeting place, but he was fully aggravated now. It could be coincidence, but with her luck, he would not be surprised if that was indeed Izuku who had become the focus of Tomura and was the aforementioned 'pet human', a name he felt irritable with. A thread of possessiveness tugged at him as he heard it, as well as the fact he did not like how it degraded Izuku.

When he got there, he saw Kurogiri already waiting, radiating nervousness. He was obviously staring at the newly crafted black mask that All For One had gotten made in America, not only needing a way to preserve his identity but to conceal the fact he wasn't in a weakened state. A part of him had thought that would come in handy later on, so he decided he'd cultivate his supposed 'weakness' now.

"Sensei," Kurogiri greeted, forming a warp gate.

"Kurogiri, before we leave, would you mind telling me this girl's name?" he asked, keeping his tone kind and polite, even as he stared the other down.

Kurogiri was silent for a moment before reluctantly parting with an answer. "Her name is Izuku."

All For One pressed his lips together, hidden behind the mask. "I see. I'll deal with Tomura, Kurogiri, but afterwards you are going to tell me exactly how you met this girl."

Kurogiri inclined his head and then the two of them walked into the portal, immediately appearing in the bar. Tomura was irritably waiting at the bar top, scratching at his neck. When he saw them though, he straightened up.

"Sensei!"

"Calm, Tomura," he told him, sounding calm himself. All For One wasn't calm though. "This is a minor matter and nothing for you to worry about. I doubt we'll see the child again and Kurogiri has assured me that he has not heard or seen her since."

"But —!"

"No buts," he cut him off, voice sharp with him again. Since he was usually so calm and patient with Tomura, it shocked him and Kurogiri enough that they went silent and even a bit cowed. "This matter is resolved. We are no longer mentioning it again. Kurogiri, take me to my headquarters."

But once there, he turned to the misty man and sort of loomed over him.

"How did you meet her?" If his tone was darker than his usual tone, then that was his business.

Kurogiri leaned away. "She…she got lost in Kamino Ward. Panicked and stumbled into my bar, Sensei." He started to relate how Izuku hadn't known where she was and had become hungry and thirsty, actually trying to drink alcohol without knowing what it was. All For One momentarily mentally face palmed, making a note to somehow educate her on this somehow. Still, why was she running around on her own and trying to buy groceries by herself?

When he questioned the other about that, he didn't expect the answer.

"She said nothing of her father, but she said her mother died."

Oh. So poor Inko had died. It was a shame, as he had actually grown fond of the woman and of her cooking. With her father MIA and her mother dead, it seemed Izuku was alone. He'd have to find out who her guardian was, but he contemplated the conundrum before him. Part of him played with the idea of whisking her away, but that was at the risk of bringing her here and introducing her to his darkness.

He liked her sweetness though. He was inordinately fond of her and her sweet ways, and he felt it was a little too early for her to be brought into his world. He still wanted to slowly introduce her to it, rather than have her grow in it, since he was assured that she was the type that leaned more towards the 'good' spectrum and would be off-put by all this, even at her age. He'd have to present himself and his ideas to her in a more relatable and palatable manner, so that she could grow accustom to his leanings and learn to accept him as he was.

Him  _and_  his positions. Yes, right.

Mentally shaking his head, he looked at Kurogiri and pondered his next move.

" _Have_  you had contact with her since she left the bar?" he asked and the way Kurogiri cringed back was telling. "Well?"

"I…I still make her milkshakes in the morning and drop it off in front of her home. I do not specifically talk to her or see her, Sensei."

All For One's first reaction was to be irritable, but then he thought about it and he found that it wasn't such a bad thing. She clearly was upset about her mother, so this thing Kurogiri had set up for her was something she obviously cherished. The question now would be if he should tell about his own connection to her to his two associates.

No.

That was immediate and adamant in his head. The irrational feeling of not wanting to share her, as well as the idea that Tomura (with his immaturity and immediate reaction to anger) would harm her was an added reason for why he didn't want to take her in. Even if he told Tomura not to harm her, there was no guarantee he wouldn't fly off the handle at one point and react to his anger, irreparably hurting or even killing her.

There was also the idea that, should Tomura fail in being what he wanted him to be —a successor and heir —then there was Izuku.

Izuku who was mature and very sane at her age, and was vastly intelligent (that it even impressed him).

_She also had his Quirk_.

She was admittedly the Plan B All for One didn't know he wanted or needed.

"Continue as is," he told Kurogiri, back to his pleasant tone. "If anything changes, inform me. In the meantime, I shall be busy looking into other affairs."

Like his continuing search for Midoriya Hisashi and now looking back into Izuku. He'd allowed himself some time away from her, believing things will be alright for now while he focused on his plans, but apparently when it came to her, many things could take place. He'd have to keep a closer eye on her.

Perhaps a phone? It was going to be her birthday soon after all.

* * *

"I apologize for not being here on your actual birthday, but I got caught up on something," Sensei said pleasantly.

Izuku beamed happily up at him, still not letting go. She liked the way his violet eyes looked happy to see her (She missed that.) and the way they were sometimes covered by strands of his ash blond hair.

"I missed you, Sensei," she blurted out. "Are you staying a while?"

"Just for today," he told her apologetically and she hid her disappointment. Still, she finally got to see him again, so it was better than nothing. He stepped into the apartment, holding onto her carefully. After closing the door, he let her down gently. "I have some more things to give you though. However, I am wondering why you haven't called me with your new phone?"

She shyly shifted on her feet. "Um, I was really excited about it, but then I thought that a phone's supposed to be a big responsibility and that I should only use it to call you for emergencies."

He gave her a fond look, smoothing the top of her head softly. "Ah, but you know, Izuku, it's okay if you want to send something to me every once and a while. I don't mind. So if you're sad or if you're lonely, remember what I said in my letter?"

"That you're always available in an emergency," she repeated and he grinned at her.

"So if you feel like you need someone, that counts as an emergency," he told her.

She flushed red and smiled happily, grabbing onto him again. He returned her embrace and picked her up, taking her to the kitchen.

"Are you hungry? Would you like me to teach you to cook something?" he asked her.

Izuku nodded excitedly. "Yes! Kuzumochi please!"

He stopped short, staring at her in confusion. "O…kay. But something else first, something you can cook and that is an actual meal. Hm…how about soba noodles?"

"Okay! But I don't have soba noodles to cook, Sensei, and I already bought all the groceries for this month with my allowance."

"Allowance?" he asked.

"Un! Papa sends me money every month to buy groceries. I don't spend it on anything else though, 'cause I'm a good daughter." Izuku knew better after all. That money was for groceries and if something needed fixing. She shouldn't spend so frivolously.

He made a humming noise in the back of his throat before smiling at her. "Okay, but don't worry. I have the ingredients."

"What? Where, Sensei?" she asked, confused. She didn't see anything on him!

"Right…here!" Like a magic trick, he pulled something out of midair and it was a bag of groceries.

She gasped and clapped aloud. "Ooh, Sensei, that was like magic! Was that a Quirk?"

He nodded and she couldn't help herself, peppering him with questions all about it. She was about to ask another question when he asked her one.

"Would you like to have it?"

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

"Mmhm, of course. I'll make sure to pass it on before I leave, alright? Now let's get started on that meal."

Together, they started on it and she learned as she worked with him. He patiently explained and showed her how to cook the meal, and when they were done, he plated it for her and she watched carefully as he did it so elegantly and prettily.

"Wow, Sensei! You're like a professional chef," she said in awe.

He chuckled. "You see, I've traveled to many places and learned many things. Culinary techniques are some of my favorite lessons."

She was super impressed and decided she'd do her best to learn whatever she could from him. Together, they sat and ate and she told him about a lot of things that had gone on while he was away. She didn't mention (though she wondered why he didn't ask) about her mother's passing, and she wasn't quite sure if she should mention anything about Enji.

"I heard about your mother," he said gently after they'd finished eating.

She looked down on her lap, figuring it would come sooner than later.

"I don't yet have all the details as I'd wanted to come here, but I figured you'd like to make a small shrine to pay your respects to your mother whenever you wanted," he said and she looked up at him in surprise. "I have a good-sized wooden cabinet for you to make a butsudan out of."

She sniffled a little, but she nodded vigorously. Using the same trick as before, he first pulled out the simple but elegant cabinet before taking out other items. Then he surprisingly pulled out a record, fancily spinning it on a finger before holding it out.

"Just because this is something sad and serious, doesn't mean we have to be," he said with a small smile. "I don't think Inko-san would have liked her daughter being upset while paying her respects to her, now would she?"

She shook her head and grabbed the record from him, going over to the record player that Sensei had brought over and given to her when he'd first met her. She put it on like she'd been taught and then listened to the first line with a huge smile. She practically skipped back to Sensei and the two of them began organizing and fixing up the traditional butsudan while humming along to the song.

"A classic," Sensei murmured. "They really don't make songs like they used to, if you ask me. Though at least there's always dubstep. I love dubstep. Dubstep never dies, you know that?" he winked at her with a grin.

She giggled, placing the picture of her mother in the middle while he placed the incense inside.

"You seem very well-adjusted," he said suddenly and she faltered. "Have you had a chance to cry?"

Izuku fidgeted uncomfortably, not expecting this talk after the good time they were having.

"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled.

"Really?"

She swallowed heavily and stared at the ground. She'd cried off and on, though she'd always tried to cut herself short and distract herself with something or someone. She had tried to focus on smiling through it and keep herself from really crying full out, so maybe she had just put it off. She thought she could just put it off forever really.

His hand was on her head and comfortingly rubbing it. "Izuku, sometimes it's okay to just cry. Sometimes it's okay not to have to smile. If you don't want to cry in front of people, you can always cry in front of me."

" _Loves you inside out  
__Backwards and forwards with  
__My heart hanging out~_ _"_

Okaa-san really loved her and Izuku still really, really loved her too.

So if she cried ugly tears, at least Sensei was there for her to cry in front of.

Started 8/5/18 — Completed 9/5/18

 

**Omake!**

Enji rubbed his eyes, feeling tired after the day he had at the agency and then coming home to train Izuku. He still hadn't gone to bed yet because he had to deal with all this paperwork, and he was about ready to leave it off for tomorrow. Taking a sip of tea, he reached over and grabbed a kuzumochi, taking a bite as his eyes scanned the paper in front of him. He heard noise then and he perked up, getting onto his feet in no time.

Quietly moving out of his study, he tracked down the source of the noise to the kitchen and flipped on the lights, blaring his Hellflame around his body threateningly.

He stopped short when all he saw was Izuku sitting on a chair with a glass of water and her mouth stuffed full of his kuzumochi from his kitchen supply.

"Izuku, what are you doing up?" he asked, frowning.

She blinked sleepily at him, swallowing her mouthful. "M'thirsty," she mumbled. "S'got water. Then I felt 'ungry."

He glanced at the empty plate. "I think it's a little too late for dessert, Izuku," he said, discreetly wiping his hand and trying not to feel like a hypocrite. Then again, she was a kid and she was bound to get a sugar rush, when he was already a full grown adult. "And you've probably had enough. You should probably go back to sleep now."

She blinked at him before her lower lip started to tremble and her eyes went wide.

"M'still 'ungry, Enji-san."

He twitched. "I can make eggs?"

She sniffed and her eyes began to water.

What…what the…Enji cringed and shifted awkwardly in place, growing more awkward as the seconds past and Izuku began to sniffle.

Then she lifted her hand and rubbed her eyes, whimpering slightly, and Enji said to hell with it.

A minute later, the two of them were in his study and he was backed to work, snacking on the previously bitten kuzumochi while Izuku was humming happily as she chewed on her own piece.

If from that moment on, Enji would periodically let her have some of his kuzumochi, then well…

He wasn't about to see that-that  _look_  from her ever again.

It was too hard to deny that look.

Started 9/10/18 — 9/10/18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while, guys! You can blame Aizawa for that –I couldn't get past his scene. It's all his fault. (That and Sensei kept wanting to take over and star in this chapter as much as possible, even though he wasn't supposed to…). Hope you enjoyed this chapter and the omake! Please remember to review~
> 
> Quick Points:
> 
> 1\. -rin/-yan: Are honorifics that aren't as well known, used to be overly familiar and attached to nicknames more or less.
> 
> 2\. Enji and kuzumochi: I'm convinced he's obsessed with the dessert. It's supposed to be his favorite food, so I headcanon he keeps up an endless supply and replenishes it often…(Plus it's funny that huge, gruff guy like him likes a dessert so much XD)
> 
> 3\. Sensei: He's old, I'm sure he's done all sorts of stuff, traveled everywhere, and learned lots of stuff XD Also, a fan like dubstep. He and Deadpool have lots in common.
> 
> 4\. Other BNHA stories: I have two one-shots, "Cake and Smiles" (AFO/Izuku) and "Miss You Like Crazy" (EnDeku), and an M chaptered EnDeku story called "Don't Want to Touch You (But You're Under My Skin). I would appreciate you guys checking them out and leaving a review~


	6. Transient People

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Playlist:  
> Blackbird by Aria (The Beatles cover)

Izuku hummed to herself as she focused on the new cryptex that Sensei had given her. After her sixth birthday, right before he'd left, he'd given her one and said that he had a habit of collecting those and he'd always enjoyed solving puzzles. He'd given her a piece of paper with clues and when she'd solved it, she'd gotten the password for her first cryptex and opened it to find a piece of candy. It had been a fun game and she'd really liked it. Plus, she was sharing something with Sensei!

The puzzles only got harder though. And sometimes, along with a cryptex, she'd get a puzzle box (usually a Japanese one). Those were even harder, especially the bigger they got. At one point, as a prize, Sensei had sent her a huge Kyosegi Trick Chest. It was huge! And there were a lot of trick areas for her to hide things in or behind.

Still, most of her prizes were movies or books. Sensei said he was educating and giving her culture or something like that, so when she opened one of the cryptexes, there would be a piece of paper inside that held a title for her to text to Sensei, who'd then send over what it was.

The first one he'd sent over and that she'd solved had been  _Paradise Lost_. She didn't really get all of it, but she knew she felt really sad for Lucifer. She didn't know how she'd feel if she couldn't be in a beautiful place like Heaven and had to be stuck in somewhere like Hell. And he was really charming and she couldn't help feeling bad for him when she read it. She just…Izuku didn't know how she could describe her feelings, but she knew she'd wanted to hug him.

After that though, there were more really advanced and hard to read and watch stuff Sensei sent. She did her best to understand on her own, but sometimes she would hesitantly text Sensei and ask him, though he'd mostly help her and try not to give her the answers or give her his opinions until after she'd formed hers.

The first one she'd actually watched was  _The Wizard of Oz_. Sensei had said to watch that first before telling her to watch a recording of a play called  _Wicked_. The Wicked Witch was a villain and Izuku had been firmly against her, up until she'd watched  _Wicked_. Then she felt conflicted and confused. She'd watched both movies again and again, and even if she did enjoy them on her own…When she had to actually think about it, she felt really strange. Part of her thought, as the villain, the Wicked Witch of the West was evil and horrible and —but then when she saw the Wicked Witch's POV, she felt really upset on her behalf and began to understand some things and why the Wicked Witch did some of the things she did or choices she'd made. She had just felt really confused and torn, enough she'd actually called Sensei. He'd only told her that it was okay to feel that way and that things like this were good to debate and think of.

Izuku had never forgotten how she felt though, and she began to look at villains differently and wonder why they did that or why'd they chosen to become villains in the first place.

But the one that made her really sad and rooting for the villain was when she'd 'met' the Phantom. Sensei had made her read  _The Phantom of the Opera_ , and she'd inwardly whined at how  _dry_  and  _boring_  it was. She'd forced herself to get through it though (because Sensei had wanted her to), but she'd really disliked the Phantom in it and thought he was an evil murderer. His looks hadn't bothered her at all, but she'd really disliked what he did to everyone.

But then Sensei had told her to read  _Phantom_  and she'd cried so much.

She'd cried and cried and she hadn't even reached the end of it, when she realized her heart hurt so bad for him and she hated everyone around him for hurting him and making him that way. She'd wanted Christine to choose him and she'd hated Raoul and had been convinced that Christine had really loved the Phantom instead. And when she looked it up, she saw there was a movie and a play and music, and she just wanted to give all her love to the Phantom so he wouldn't be sad and lonely anymore.

(She was still sad and lonely too, so she thought the two of them could be sad and lonely together.)

Still, on the rare occasion, Sensei would also reward her with other things —sometimes she'd get a new record and she'd have a new song to gush over and learn. She'd get strange knickknacks that Sensei had told her over the phone or text that he'd collected over the years, or even straight out antiques he'd kept and gathered as years passed. She'd once gotten a very pretty bench stool he'd said came from the 1950s and was called a French Louis XVI design. She'd placed it right at the foot of her bed, giggling as it looked out of place with all her All Might and Hero merchandise crowding around her room.

Deciding it was again that time for her to go grocery shopping again, she eagerly searched out the miniature Hero costume Uncle Masaru had recently made for her, basing it off of All Might's earlier costume like she'd asked.

Today, she was going to make sure no villains stopped her from buying groceries!

* * *

Nemuri yawned, entering the grocery store. She'd pop in, grab something quick and then head to her agency. She didn't normally come through this way, but she was glad she did. She'd been in a hurry that morning and missed having breakfast, and her normal route didn't have anything on the way for her to drop in at like this.

Entering, she thought she'd be in for a quick browse. Instead, she ran into an aisle that had a few people in it, all watching a little girl dressed up…in an All Might-like costume? She was apparently trying to reach something up at the top and no one was helping.

"Beware, Jar of Nutella! For I am Mini-Might and I will vanquish your apprentice Height Monster!"

Nemuri unwittingly burst out a laugh and she covered her mouth. What a cute kid.

"You can do it, Mini-Might! We believe in you!" one of the bystanders cheered.

The rest of the onlookers also began cheering her on. "Mini-Might" gave them a cute pose with a v-sign and then turned back determinedly to the shelf. She thrust her hands up and concentrated, with one of the nutella jars wiggling on its own. Nemuri raised an eyebrow. A Quirk? Hm, public display of Quirks wasn't really allowed, but…

"Go, Mini-Might!" she joined in.

The little girl was adorable and so was all this. Plus, everyone was cheering her on and enabling her, even if everyone knew the law.

Finally, the nutella jar toppled over and the girl caught it. Everyone clapped their hands and cheered, congratulating her. Nemuri chuckled as the crowd dispersed and the little girl went to a small basket and dropped the jar in. She picked it up and cutely heaved it along.

"Hey, Mini-Might, let me help," she came over and picked the basket up. "Where are your parents?"

"Gone," the girl said honestly and Nemuri hesitated. She wasn't going to push if it'll upset her. Gone meant gone, and if this girl was out and about on her own…the least she was able to do without overstepping was at least accompany the girl back home.

"Psst!" the little girl said. "Are you  _Midnight_ , the R-rated Hero?"

Nemuri was surprised. "How did you know?"

Mini-Might giggled. "You smell really nice, though if I sniff too much, I get sleepy. Plus, your hair is styled like hers."

Oh, she was perceptive! While the hair could be explained away, her Quirk couldn't.

"Can I ask you questions?" the girl's eyes widened.

"Sure, Mini-Might. Call me Nemuri-neesan, okay?"

She cheered cutely, making Nemuri coo in her head. "Ya! Okay, Nemu-nee!"

Awww, that was even better!

Nemuri watched her go to the cashier and pay for everything herself, meticulously counting out money. After Mini-Might was done paying, she came over and snatched the bag so she could hold it herself. Together, they left and Nemuri let the little girl lead. While learning her name was Izuku, Nemuri was impressed by the barrage of questions the greenette sent her way.

Cute  _and_  smart!

* * *

Tsunagu glanced at his phone to make sure he had the address right. Looking around, nothing seemed to be amiss. He could hear nothing wrong either. Wondering why Midnight would text him to come here quickly, he warily approached the apartment door and knocked, his Quirk ready. But then he heard Midnight's voice.

"Oh! That must be him!"

There were hurried footsteps and he was dragged inside as soon as the door opened. Facing an unmasked, grinning Midnight in civilian clothes, Tsunagu was confused.

"Midnight-san, I thought this was an emergency?"

She waved him off. "I never said that. I just told you to come here."

A bit of irritation entered him, but Midnight pointed to a direction. "Besides, you can call it an emergency. It's a fashion emergency and we need your help." Tsunagu saw a young girl looking at him shyly, dressed in a miniature All Might costume with her hood down. "Izuku hasn't had her hair cut or managed in  _forever_. Come on, Best Jeanist-san. Help us out a little."

Izuku, he assumed was the girl's name, had beautiful long hair. Unruly a bit, but it made her look like a wild nymph…

Things were slow right now and his sidekicks could take care of things.

He approached the little girl and knelt, smiling behind his collar. "Hello, Izuku. My name is Tsunagu. I'll help you with your hair, okay?"

Izuku's green eyes were awed. "Wow, Nemu-nee...it's a real live prince…P-please to meet you, Tsunagu-oujisama."

He blinked and sweatdropped, even as he heard Midnight snort in amusement from behind him. He shook his head and smiled again, reaching out to take a piece of her hair and tug on it.

"Well, I'm very pleased to meet you as well, Oujo-sama."

A few seconds later found him as a stranger in the girl's bathroom, with Midnight chattering in the background as he filed through the shampoo selection. She didn't even have anything for conditioner and the shampoo looked like a cheap brand. No wonder her hair was a little frizzy. Frowning to himself, he took out his phone and started dialing.

"What're you doing?" Midnight asked.

"Calling my sidekicks," he answered distractedly.

One of them finally answered and he ordered them to bring some stuff, texting them the address after he hung up.

"I made tea!" they heard Izuku say.

"Thanks, Izu-hime!" Midnight looked to him mischievously. "Princess, huh?"

"Hm. Well, if she's going to call me a prince, I should return the sentiment. It's more fitting for her anyhow."

Midnight made an agreeing noise. "That's true. 'Ojou-sama' is used a lot for cute, little girls. But it also doubles for a title for rich young ladies these days."

"Meaning?" Tsunagu thought about it.

Midnight shrugged. "Her guardian must be rich or well paid at least. Her mother is gone and there's a shrine in the living room dedicated to her. She said her father was gone too. Whoever is taking care of her must be able to have enough money to keep this place well stocked and give her an allowance while they're gone for long stretches at a time. I saw her fridge and it has plenty of vegetables. She said 'Sho-yan' makes sure she always has them."

"Sho-yan, huh?" Tsunagu frowned even more. While it was nice that they made sure Izuku was fed and fed healthily, the fact that they leave her alone for so long was unacceptable. He'd have to find this Sho-yan and have a serious talk with them.

They headed out and saw Izuku just finishing bringing up the cups to the table.

"Aw, thanks a lot, Ohime! You're such a responsible girl," Midnight said, gaining a beaming look from Izuku.

Tsunagu smiled softly. "Yes, thank you very much, Ojou-sama."

There was a knock on her door then and Tsunagu excused himself to go answer it. "It's probably one of my sidekicks with the items I requested," he told them. Or hopefully her guardian.

When he reached the door, he answered it. Not just one, but four of his sidekicks were there.

"We're ready to help, sir!"

Tsunagu's irritation came back, but he just exasperatedly let them in. One of them handed over the requested shampoo and conditioner of the brand he preferred, and he went back to the duo watching in shock.

"Izuku, my sidekicks will set up in here. Come with me and Midnight to have your hair washed before I trim it, alright? Midnight, help her get dressed in clothes that will be okay to get a little wet with and hair dropped on. I'll be in the bathroom setting up."

As they split up, Tsunagu put aside the shampoo and conditioner, turning on the shower in the bathroom. Once he set it to a comfortable temperature and gentle setting, he moved the nozzle down and took off his jacket, rolling up the sleeves of his button up.

"Ah! Tsunagu-oujisama! You're really handsome! Why do you hide your face?"

He turned to Izuku, smiling while ignoring Midnight's snickering. "You see, my Quirk allows me to…control the fiber threads of clothes. Denim is especially good for me. Covering up my face allows me to have a face shield of sorts."

She got excited and while chattering about his Quirk and asking him questions, he had her sit on a stool he'd found and told her to close her eyes. Gently tilting her head back, he took most of her hair and pulled it away from her, retrieving the water nozzle and holding it over her head. Letting the water run down her head and then the rest of her hair, he replaced the water nozzle back in place and reached for the shampoo.

"You can keep these, okay Ojou? I like this brand a lot and it'll help your hair stay nice and healthy. I'll make sure to drop by with some new ones every once and a while,"  _'and maybe catch your guardian,'_  "but let me know when you're out of them. I'll leave my number in case you need help."

"Me too!" Midnight chirped up. "Call your Onee-san any time, okay?"

As she and Midnight chatted, Tsunagu spread the shampoo into her hair and rubbed it in, gently but firmly kneading her scalp. He worked it in for a couple of minutes before rinsing it off, and then repeating the process with the conditioner. He finished up before reaching for a towel. Just as he sat her up, he covered her hair and twisted the towel, setting it on top of her head.

"Stand up so I can finish drying your hair, okay?" Once up, he unraveled the towel and began to rub her hair, putting aside the towel when he was done. "Alright," he stood. "Let's brush your hair and then I'll get started on styling it."

* * *

Izuku hummed quietly as Tsunagu softly brushed through her hair without snagging a tangle painfully. If there were tangles, she didn't notice. When he finished, he put away the brush back in his kit and retrieved a comb and scissors. She listened to the quiet snip! snip! of the scissors as Tsunagu carefully cut her hair into a manageable length, and then started cutting here and there as he began styling it.

"Your hair looking wild and curly like earlier would probably be a good look on you when you're older and a bit taller, but right now it's probably too hard to manage, especially because it's gotten so long. Right now, I have it to your shoulders and I took care of your split ends. I was thinking of brushing your hair down to straighten it a little and teaching you to self-braid and put your hair into different-styled buns?"

"Can you really?" she asked in awe.

While he nodded, one of his sidekicks held up a box excitedly. "I have hair accessories!"

She giggled and felt like a princess.

Eventually, time passed by, but she hardly noticed when she'd been having too much fun with them. When they all had to leave, she felt sad but she was surprised and relieved to not feel so lonely.

* * *

The next day, feeling in a good mood and wanting to see if she could catch some Heroes or see some Quirks being used, she went out of her apartment to the park. She had her notebook with her, ready to take notes. She'd recently started writing everything down, which she told Sensei about. He'd encouraged her and said it was a good hobby and had even jokingly told her to send some good tips and information his way.

Sitting on the ledge of a fountain, she started going over notes she'd been writing on Tsunagu's Quirk as she waited for whatever to happen.

"A love struck Romeo, sings the streets of serenade! Laying everybody low with a love song that he made~"

 _Romeo and Juliet_  was sung by a pretty good male voice and Izuku perked up. Excitedly singing the next line ("He finds a streetlight, steps out of the shade; Says something like, "You and me, babe, how about it?"), she waited when there was a pause. Then the other person finally sang the next line and then the two of them were duetting!

Midway through the song, he switched it up, singing  _Hello_  and she was hearing Lionel Richie's song from someone other than a record player. She eagerly sung back and then, to match him, she changed it to  _Hello, I Love You_. She didn't know how long they kept at it, though she did notice (and ignored) the strange looks she was getting (whoever he was was probably doing the same). But then —

"Crap! I'm late! Oops, I gotta go, little diva! I'll 'sing' you around!"

Giggling at the pun, she was disappointed he had to leave. She wondered if she'd 'meet' him again. Time passed by while she worked diligently on her notebook and before she knew it, it was getting dark as the sun set. She started to head out of the park when she caught sight of the playground. She watched it sadly, not daring to approach the kids still playing. She started thinking about how she didn't have anyone to play with. She didn't really have friends except for Kacchan. Even Kacchan could be really mean to her; he'd called her "stupid, useless Deku" or "Quirkless idiot".

But she  _had_  a Quirk! Maybe no one was supposed to know because Sensei said it was a Quirk people wouldn't like. Even if Enji (who didn't really know her Quirk in full) thought she should keep it quiet or not talk about all its details, he, the hospital staff and the Quirk Registration knew she had a quirk now too (although the latter two thought it was Super Regeneration). Even her Reversal was supposed to be kept secret because Papa and Okaa-san (before she'd died) had told her it was for the best. Sensei had too! It wasn't fair. Now Kacchan was always being mean to her with his other friends.

Well…he'd always been like that, but it's Kacchan. They…they'd always roughhoused and Kacchan insulted and cursed at everyone, not just her. He was a kid like her too; he couldn't control his Quirk. If she sometimes got burns from him, it wasn't his fault. They were  _friends_. He…he was her  _only_  —

"Hey, why don't you go play with them?"

Izuku frowned as she continued to watch, recognizing some of the kids. "They wouldn't play with me if I came over," she murmured.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm Quirkless," she said hollowly.

Even if it wasn't true now, it had been once and everyone had treated her like she was worthless then like they still do now. That's all they knew her as —stupid, useless,  _Quirkless_  Deku.

"They're leaving anyway," she muttered.

"Well then, come on! I'll play with you."

She blinked and finally realized she'd been talking to someone. She turned and saw a tall man (Not as tall as Enji or Sensei though), with light-colored hair that had shaped like clock needles around his head. He was grinning at her, offering to play at the playground, even though he was wearing a nice suit (albeit wearing a raincoat?).

"Really?" she asked, trying not to sound so hopeful.

"Sure. I just finished my assignment, so I've got free time. Race you there!"

He started running and she gleefully ran after him. She laughed loudly when she saw him using his long legs to take huge strides to climb the monkey bars and then sit atop them.

"So, I'm Kurono Hari. What's your name, Boss?" he asked teasingly.

She giggled and played along. "It's Midoriya Izuku, Henchman!"

He jumped down and mock saluted. "Let's rule the city then, Boss," he gestured to the playground.

Izuku pumped a fist into the air. "Yeah! Let's crack down on the swings."

"You got it, Boss!"

He'd ended up pushing her on the swings until she was going high up in the air. She let out loud shrieks of enjoyment, for once having fun playing with someone. She hadn't actually  _played_  with anyone since she'd played with the Todoroki children, which felt so long ago.

"Switch, switch!" she said eagerly.

He chuckled but switched places with her, sitting down and letting her try to push him. Of course it wasn't going to happen (She was only seven! He was way too big for her to push on the swings!), but she was enjoying trying anyway. She kept cracking up, which made trying to push him an even harder task. Then he started making it purposely harder, snickering as he planted his feet onto the ground.

"Oi!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry, Boss!" he laughed.

When she wanted to go to the merry-go-round, he told her to scoot inside and hang on tight to the railings. He'd had a foot on the ground, while his other was on the merry-go-round itself, and when he pushed off the ground, he made sure to go super fast. She was screaming in delight. Maybe she was what Sensei called an adrenaline junkie? Well, he was one too, so it wasn't a bad thing, right?

She didn't know how long they stayed out there playing, but she was having a lot of fun and didn't care. But then he got a phone call and he apologized before excusing himself to the side to take the call. When he came back, she already knew from the expression on his face.

She looked down and toed the ground. "Ah, you probably have to go now, don't you?"

"Sorry, Boss," he said affectionately. "I can drop you off home though."

She smiled slightly at him and he walked over and held out his hand. She grabbed hold and they started walking.

"What do you do, Kurono-san?" she asked, curious about what he'd said about finishing an assignment.

He paused before continuing on nonchalantly. "Maybe I'm yakuza, Izuku-oyabun."

She hmphed. "Fine! Don't tell me. I'm going to call you Hari, fake yakuza."

"Whatever you want, Boss."

That didn't mean she wasn't still curious though.

She tilted her head and looked up at him. "Hey…thank you for…for…earlier. At the park. Even though I don't know why you'd want to play with me."

He gave her a sad smile. "You looked really sad and lonely. It reminded me of myself. A…friend brought me into his family and since then, I've been loyal and dedicated to him. I work for him actually," Hari said truthfully. "I thought you'd want someone to reach out to you like he had for me."

She teared up, cursing the fact she was such a crybaby. But she stopped walking and hugged him tightly, focusing on that instead.

"Hari, I'm really glad to have met you!"

She'd been meeting so many kind people lately, that it was making living alone and growing up much easier.

Maybe she could do this, live without her Papa and Okaa-san and still be happy.

* * *

Hari lightly hummed as he entered headquarters, in a good mood and thinking about the little girl he'd dropped off. She really had been such a cute, lonely little girl. Seeing her stare off at the kids in the distance pulled him to her and start talking to her, and in the end he couldn't help sticking around for a bit and playing with her, all of which was unlike himself and his normal behavior. She looked like she had fun and he had too. He'd almost been tempted to kidnap her and bring her here; let her have all the fun she wanted and not be so lonely. To offer a haven like he'd been offered his with the rest of the Expendables.

"Where've you been?" he heard his boss ask and he looked to see Kai watching him, his look becoming disdainful when he saw Hari's dirty and rumpled attire.

"Playing on the playground," Hari grinned widely.

Kai scowled. "You were supposed to report back here as soon as you were finished dealing with the Red Moon clan."

Hari shrugged, coming closer and plopping tiredly on a chair near his boss. "Eh, I thought it could wait."

"Disgraceful."

He snickered and shrugged. "Sorry, sorry. I couldn't help it. There was this adorable little girl with the saddest green eyes and the loneliest smile."

That just made Kai even more disgruntled, though Hari paid him no attention. He stretched and yawned, tempted to toe his shoes off right there. He refrained though, knowing that there was only so much Kai would tolerate, given his germaphobic tendencies.

"You should've left her to play with the other kids," Kai hnned. "I'm sure there were other kids there."

Hari frowned when he thought back to that scene. "No, they wouldn't have played with her," he said coldly, remembering.

"Why not?" Kai looked at him then and Hari's frown deepened.

"She told me it was because she was Quirkless," Hari gritted his teeth. "What a stupid reason. I bet those idiot kids will just grow up to be nuisances anyway…"

Grumbling under his breath, he missed the sharp look Kai sent his way before a thoughtful one replaced it. When Hari looked back at his boss, he saw him looking lost in thought and inwardly wondered what could he be thinking so hard about.

* * *

Shota toed off his shoes before closing the door behind him, sighing in relief from coming back from such a long mission. Izuku was eagerly setting up tea for him and he was glad that he'd gone to see her first thing after returning to Musutafu. The now seven year old was thankfully just as responsible and mature as ever, and part of Shota was glad for it. It meant she was able to take care of herself and could handle being on her own, even if he would've preferred for her not to be.

He thought the new additions around the apartment was nice (if a bit strange and sometimes old fashioned —or just plain  _old_ ; was that an Edo period tea jar?!). He noticed the place was much more filled with life and personality, instead of the loneliness it had usually exuded before. It brought a measure of comfort to him, letting him know that she'll be alright —a little bit of watching over needed, but she was a strong, lively girl that he was going to believe in.

"How have you been?" he asked as he settled down by the low table, folding his legs into a criss-crossed position and idly planting his cheek onto his fist, propping his head up.

"Hm…okay, I guess?" She brought the tea over and sat down next to him, copying his position. "Nemu-nee and Tsuna-ouji made sure that I've been keeping clean and stuff, and Hari tells me I need to go have more fun, but mostly I stay at home and read or watch stuff that Sensei recommends."

Shota froze, hearing these names. Were they her guardians that he's been trying to hunt down, wanting to meet and lecture the hell out of? He knew she'd mentioned 'Sensei' and he assumed she meant her teacher from school, but this 'Nemu-nee', and 'Tsuna-ouji' ( _Ouji?_ ) and Hari were names she hadn't said to him before, on all the other times he'd managed a visit. He was tempted to ask her, but he didn't want her to clam up and he could try to find out on his own, now that he had names. If worse comes to worse and he couldn't find them or anything about them, then he'd ask Izuku.

He did, however, find out what happened to her parents. Her father was overseas (somehow, he was unable to find out anything else on the man) and her mother had been accidentally killed in the crossfire between a villain and of all the Heroes…Endeavor.

It made sense now why she'd been a little obsessed with kuzumochi that night. As he'd remembered then, Endeavor had always been rather fond of the dessert and he'd thought on that when Izuku had gone to the store for it, claiming a craving, and he'd idly thought of the Pro-Hero. He knew now it had been less of an idle thought and more of a connection he hadn't realized.

It had taken a lot of work, but Shota had managed to dig up what had happened. A villain Endeavor had been chasing had gotten to Izuku and her mother and had used them as hostages. Endeavor had accidentally killed Midoriya Inko, leaving Izuku alone in Japan. From what he'd read, the news report hadn't gone into too much detail, expressing sympathies for the Midoriya family for the loss and even for Endeavor for the horrific and probably haunting arrest gone wrong. Shota had known his own fair share of those, but he could only imagine how Endeavor felt. Even for a standoffish man like him, he highly doubted he would've been indifferent or would've brushed off the incident, especially since (as Shota had put together) Izuku had stayed with the man after it had happen. If Endeavor had taken her in, he wondered how much guilt the other man had suffered and how exacerbated it would've been, having to look at the girl whose mother he'd killed and who he'd made suffer from his own Quirk. And he knew how bad it must've gotten, considering while the news report hadn't been  _too_  detailed, the police report he'd managed to get his hands on  _was_.

If the mother had been burned alive and died by your hands and the child would have too had it not been for her Super Regeneration Quirk (and that was another thing he had to talk to her about! How many Quirks did this girl have? This should be impossible!), Shota could imagine Endeavor would've been drowning in guilt, especially if he'd seen it happen. He'd also stumbled onto a news article that had been on the funeral and Endeavor had been mentioned being there and Midoriya Hisashi, Izuku's father, becoming furious with him. The journalist had managed to catch the exchange and Shota had to wince. But the reporter had also written how Izuku's father had stormed away, leaving not just Endeavor behind, but his daughter. That, Shota would never agree with, no matter how much he could understand the man's grief and pain. He was only relieved and surprised when the journalist had added that Endeavor had stuck around and comforted the little girl, before seemingly taking her home.

Honestly, Shota had been dying to talk to the man, even before he'd managed to find all this out. But Endeavor was a hard man to get to, and with both of their schedules, it hadn't been easy to find a way and time to talk to him. Endeavor's home was a no go too, since no one knew where he lived and it was probably way too secured. And it irked him too, because if anyone knew about Izuku's father and guardian (guardians), it would've been Endeavor.

And now with Izuku mentioning these people, he was all the more wary and anxious about them and finding what he could about them. He was already aggravated enough to have figured out that Izuku's father had left her here with such irresponsible caretakers, who left her alone too often and for too long a time.

Damn it, he'll focused on all that later —he had news to tell Izuku.

Yawning and laying back onto the floor, he crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. "So guess what, Izu-rin?"

"What, what?" she asked, cheerfully laying down next to him.

"UA asked me to take up a teaching position. I was thinking of accepting since that means I'll be able to stick around more and I don't have to move around as much."

The loud squeal practically busted his eardrums (he was  _not_  exaggerating), but the tackle to his gut took away all his breath.

"Yah~ Do it, do it, do it, Sho-yan!"

He rolled his eyes and snorted, but allowed a grin to escape. "Alright, alright."

And really, he could keep a closer eye on her this way, even if he'd still be pretty busy.

Started 9/19/18 — Completed 10/1/18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hm, I felt only a little bit stuck on this, but I'm excited to have gotten over it and I think I may finish the next chapter soon –then we're all set to get into the main story (YAS). Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please remember to leave a review~
> 
> Quick Points:
> 
> 1\. Izuku is collecting all sorts of Heroes (and villains), isn't she?
> 
> 2\. Kurono Hari/Chronostasis: So I know he's more coldhearted, but I figure behind the scenes when it's just him and Overhaul (and that little special moment with him and Izuku), he's a little more loose and a bit playful (just with Overhaul though, and Izuku in here). Fun fact: I physically mistook Nemoto Shin for him before rechecking for this chapter.
> 
> 3\. Overhaul: Um…Spoilers. (zips mouth)
> 
> 4\. Other BNHA stories: I have two one-shots, "Cake and Smiles" (AFO/Izuku) and "Miss You Like Crazy" (EnDeku), and an M chaptered EnDeku story called "Don't Want to Touch You (But You're Under My Skin). (10/4) There is also an Explicit-rated EnDeku chaptered story exclusively on my Ao3 account called "A Wolf in My Heart" made for Kinktober 2018. I would appreciate you guys checking them out and leaving a review~


	7. Come, Little Children...

Izuku mumbled to herself, balancing on one foot as she read her newest book. It was hard though! Not just reading and balancing, but the book she was reading was really hard to understand and had lots of big words and confusing diagrams. But Sensei said it would be a good idea for her to know anatomy, so she'd read it. If he said so, then he must be right.

Of course, she was making it extra harder on herself by balancing on a pile of junk —a few days ago she'd stumbled upon Dagobah Beach. It was isolated and no one came there, mostly because the beach was littered beyond recognition. To her though, it was like her own little hideout.

Kacchan and the others were growing even meaner and rougher these days, and had even broken her arm earlier. Her Super Regeneration fixed her right back up, but it still really hurt…She would just have to tell him to be nicer or else she wasn't going to play with him anymore, that's all.

Refocusing on her anatomy book, she almost didn't hear someone call out to her.

"Hey, Chibi! That's dangerous, you know!"

She peered over the junk to see a teenager with wavy red hair, goggles covering his eyes, and…red wings on his back? She waved her book excitedly in the air, almost overbalancing.

"S'okay! I'll be fine!"

Izuku watched curiously as he first shook his head and then carefully made the climb up the junk pile to her. He made a little huff as he sat down by her feet, examining his hands. "Completely dangerous," he reiterated. "What're you doing here, Chibi?"

She blinked. "Training. And my name's Izuku."

"Well, Izu-chibi, what're you training for?"

It was his turn to be curious. She tapped her head and then flexed an arm.

"Mental fortitude and physical fitness and endurance!"

He eyed her book, having caught the cover. "I totally see the mental thing…Anatomy?" he muttered at the end. She ignored it.

"Hey, what's your name? And what're  _you_  doing here?"

"I'm Hawks," he proudly declared. But then his face fell. "That's gonna be my Hero name, but no one calls me it." He scratched the back of his head. "I was flying back to my internship when I saw you."

"Ooh! You can  _fly_?" she asked excitedly, though she wondered why he hadn't flown to her earlier, instead of climbing up the junk pile.

"Sure can," he said proudly.

"I wish I could," she pouted.

"You want to fly with me?"

"Could you really, Hawks-kun?" she asked and he preened, happy to hear someone call him by his Hero name for once.

"Come here."

The eight year old closed her book and put it down, clambering over to him. He instructed her to climb onto his back and hold on tight. She climbed onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, trying to be careful of his wings.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Set, go!" she laughed eagerly.

He bent his legs before he took off into the air.

It was  _exhilarating_! The wind rushed past her, swarming her face and blowing her hair wildly back. The higher up they went, the more she could see of the city. It was beautiful and colorful, even with the fading sun.

"Wow, Hawks-kun! Everything is pretty!"

"Want to go faster?" he asked slyly, his wavy hair swaying in the wind.

"Yes!"

To her excitement and increasingly pounding heart, he flew faster in the sky and she squealed in enjoyment. It went on for a while until it finally became dark and he set down back where they'd started. They sat down together and he spoke up.

"Why're you training, huh?"

" _I_  want to be a Hero too," she told him. "So I gotta make sure I'm fit and I can fight," she told him, nodding surely. "Sho-yan's helping a little with that and Nemu-nee showed me an anti-pervert class, whatever that means."

He sweatdropped.

Honestly though, she'd been practicing her Quirk there; she'd found a quiet, isolated place where no one could find or see her, so she wanted to take advantage of it as much as possible. It was easy to use and practice her Okaa-san's and Papa's Quirks, but part of her  _really_  wanted to try practicing Enji's Hellflame. She hadn't really been able to turn them on or use them in any manner since leaving the Todoroki household, so she'd been happy and eager to find this beach and for a chance to activate her own Hellflame. She'd just gotten to practicing the temperature changes for her Hellflame before she'd taken a break to read her anatomy book and then meeting Hawks.

"So Izuku-chibi," Hawks started. "How was your first time flying?"

"Amazing!" she exclaimed. "I loved it!"

He looked extremely smug. "How old are you anyway, Izuku-chibi?"

"I'm eight," she held up eight fingers. "How old are you, Hawks-kun?"

"I'm fourteen," he replied.

"So you're in high school?" she asked. "Are you in UA?" she became excited.

Hawks shook his head. "Nah, I'm in Shiketsu High. It's as good as UA, if you ask me. We're in the West, like UA is in the East."

She'd heard about there being other Hero schools of course, even of Shiketsu High, which was said to be as famous as UA, only located to the West. She was a little biased towards UA though (Shota taught there, and All Might and Enji graduated from there as well).

"How is learning in a Hero school like?" she asked curiously.

He got all excited and started talking all about it, and she pulled a notebook out of subspace, eagerly taking notes. If he blinked in surprise and took it as her Quirk while he kept talking, then oh well.

There were things to be said about assumptions.

* * *

She really had a good time with Hawks. It was getting late though and they had to part ways. He said he should've been back and reporting to his agency hours ago. For her, she had a ways to go, heading back to her apartment. By now, it was getting really late. It was also going to be Halloween soon and Sensei had given her a few horror classics. She'd binged on the original Freddy Krueger movies and then  _Halloween_ , before starting on a TV series he'd recommended on Netflix, which he'd installed in her home and was paying for.  _The Walking Dead_  was…interesting.

Just then she heard moaning and she froze up. Nononono! She didn't want to be eaten by a zombie!

She stood like a mannequin, wondering if she stayed still if the zombie would miss her. After all, zombies were supposed to be blind and not really see people —they heard more and were attracted by scent and lots of noise. Movement counted too. She couldn't really remember though, because she was too busy hiding her eyes behind her fingers to really watch!

The noise came closer and she shrieked, covering her head and closing her eyes in fright.

"Don't eat me, zombie!"

"W-what…?"

Hearing the normal voice, she opened her eyes a sliver to see and saw a tall, gray-haired man. But she saw his fangs.

"Ahh! Not a zombie but a vampire! Please don't suck out my blood, Emperor of the Night!"

She closed her eyes again and cringed, waiting to be attacked.

"Um…kid, I'm not a zombie or vampire."

Izuku opened her eyes and blinked, looking more closely at the man. Dressed up in what she could recognize was some sort of Hero uniform, she also noticed the huge gash on the man's shoulder and down his arm, leaving a river of blood to drip down.

"Oh! You're hurt," she said worriedly, fluttering around him in a tizzy.

"Whatever happened to 'Emperor of the Night' and being scared?" he mumbled, though he swayed dangerously then.

"Sit," she ordered.

He actually listened, so she leaned in close to his shoulder and frown. She could use Sensei's Healing Quirk he'd given her. It would be okay, right? And it'll help this man.

"Are you a Hero?" she asked innocently, putting her hands on his shoulder.

He grunted. "…Yeah. I'm Vlad King. You probably haven't heard too much of me yet, since I only got out of being more of an Underground Hero —"

"You're the Blood Hero!" she chirped up, looking like she'd surprised him. "I  _really_  like Heroes, so I'm learning whatever I can! You can control your own blood, right? You should staunch your blood flow next time. Or better yet, have your blood flow back into you and  _then_  staunch the blood flow!"

He stared. "That's…true. I could and even if the injury wasn't healed over, I could have used my blood to cover it and harden it into a makeshift blood shield, until I could've gotten to Recovery Girl. I should have thought of that…"

"It's okay," she said cheerily. "You got really hurt and lost a lot of blood. Plus, I can help you!"

She started healing his shoulder, which she noticed was a gaping hole and then moved onto his arm. She started feeling tired herself, but not too much.

"Did you catch the villain, Vlad-san?"

He grimaced. "Unfortunately no. He got away. I was chasing him into this area, when I ran into you." When she finished, he flexed his arm and raised an eyebrow. He turned to her and smiled gently at her. "Thank you very much. You should still be at home by now though, sweetie."

She shrugged and screwed up her face. "I was heading home when I found you. Then I got all scared and thought you were a zombie. It's almost Halloween, you know! All the monsters start coming out at night."

For some reason, he gave her a sad smile. "That's right. Come on, I'll take you home. It's not safe at night and your parents must be worried."

She opened her mouth to tell him her parents weren't around, but was reminded of what Sensei had told her a few days ago —that she shouldn't be telling everyone such personal things. She didn't get why, but she suppose she should listen to him. He also mentioned something about Stranger Danger, but she figured that he must mean to be on the look out for strangers that were in danger. Even Shota and Tsunagu kept saying something about Stranger Danger, while Nemuri brought up something about perverts. She had no idea what perverts had to do with Stranger Danger though. When she mentioned perverts to Hari, he seemed to go into some kind of fit and told her to kick them in the balls.

She didn't get what he meant either.

When they reached her home, she stood at the complex's stairs and turned to him, bowing politely.

"Thank you, Vlad-san! Please stay safe and I hope you catch your bad guy!"

He smiled back at her fondly. "You're welcome, sweetie. Take care and stay safe, alright? And remember Stranger Danger! If I hadn't been who I was, it would be upsetting to have to find you'd gotten hurt."

She waved him off before she ran up the stairs and headed to her apartment. Maybe she should actually ask one of the others  _exactly_  what Stranger Danger meant…

* * *

Izuku screwed up her face, grumpily reading the letter. She had to go see a doctor? Ehh? But why? She didn't want to get a physical! She was fine! She hadn't gotten sick or anything since her okaa-san was alive and before she met Sensei. It was probably because of her Super Regeneration, so she should be super healthy now.

Did she really have to get checked up on?

She debated calling one of the others, but she knew that they would insist and demand she go, probably taking her to the doctors themselves. So, grumbling, she got ready for the day and headed out of her apartment to the nearest train station.

Once she was on the train, she sat by herself and hummed, swinging her legs back and forth. Some time went by until at one stop, she saw a tall, somewhat lean man with blond hair and blue eyes enter the train. She noted that his eyes' sclera (She learned that because of her anatomy book that she finally was finished with and was understanding!) were mostly white but were starting to be colored black around the edges.

But what got her attention the most was…

"Sunflower!" she shouted, pointing at his head.

The man stopped short, looking at her in surprise. Even as the train started moving again and he stumbled a bit, he'd obviously been caught off guard. She blushed and laughed sheepishly, but his hair had really reminded her of the flower and she couldn't help bursting out with that.

"Er, haha, not really, Little Miss," he said in English and she just noticed that she'd said sunflower in that language.

"Ah, sorry, sorry," she continued to speak in English. "Your hair is like a sunflower, Mister."

She also noted how skinny the man seemed to be getting, his leanness more noticeable up close and his suit visibly hanging off of him.

"Please don't call me Mister," he said sheepishly, taking a seat near her. "Just Toshinori, okay Little Miss?"

"Okie okie, Toshi-kun~" she giggled. "I'm Izuku."

He smiled widely at her. "Nice to meet you, Miss Izuku."

"Where are you going, Toshi-kun?" she asked, scooting closer and watching him with innocent eyes.

Toshinori blinked. "Ah, well, I'm going to the hospital."

"Eeh?" She perked up in worry. "Are you hurt or sick, Toshi-kun?!"

He gave her a reassuring smile. "It's okay. I was hurt a long time ago, so I've been needing to go to the hospital to get surgeries. This is my last one!"

She nibbled her lip, watching him closely. "Does it hurt?"

"Sometimes," he said honestly. "I'm mostly better. Pinky promise!"

She blinked, remembering her pinky promises with Sensei and Enji. She giggled and smiled widely.

"I'm going to the hospital too, Toshi-kun!" she told him. It was his turn to look worried and he asked her why quickly. "It's just for a physical," she reassured him. "Nothing bad!"

He looked relieved. "That's good. Where are your parents?"

She remembered again Sensei's words to her, but she glanced at Toshinori's sunflower hair and his bright, kind smile.

"Mama died," she said quietly. "Papa is overseas working. I'm going to the hospital all by myself," but she straightened up and smiled proudly. "But I'm a big girl and I'm really responsible, so it's okay!"

He gave her a shaky smile, but she had a feeling that he hadn't been reassured at all and looked rather worried about her.

"Since we're both going to the hospital, wanna go together?" she asked, partly to reassure him and partly because she was bored and hadn't really wanted to go in the first place. At least she'd have company!

"I'd like that," he smiled again at her.

"While we wait, let's play Rock, Paper, Scissors!" she cheered.

He laughed and agreed.

* * *

To be honest, Toshinori hadn't expected to have gotten really into the game. But Izuku was rather competitive and somehow or other, he'd gotten seriously into playing it, rather than just having fun with it. Not to say he wasn't having fun —he amusingly was.

He just hadn't thought he would become competitive with her.

"Ora!" she yelled. "Paper!"

He had Rock. Damn it.

Just then, the train stopped and announced his stop. Knowing they were getting off at the same place and heading to the same hospital, he waited for her to get off of her seat. Then they got off the train and started their walk to Tokyo General Hospital. While they walked, they started chatting about various things of America, since they'd been talking in English this entire time. It was nice —he hadn't talked to anyone in English for a long time and he was surprised she talked so fluidly for a native Japanese. But she'd said her father worked overseas, so perhaps that was why.

He steered away from Hero things though; he didn't want to let on who he really was or accidentally reveal it to her. In the meantime, the two of them talked about New York, the city's tourist areas, and the places he'd managed to go to there.

"Oh, oh! One time, I was in the Statue of Liberty and it was closing time and I'd gotten left behind," she told him. "I got to play around inside the Statue all by myself. It was fun."

Toshinori burst out laughing, not sure whether to be worried or be amused. He settled for a little of both.

"You really should take care to stick close to whoever is taking care of you," he advised her, but his lips twitched. "That said, I'm sure it was really fun to run around when there was no one around and it was dark."

"It was," she nodded surely before giving him a cute smile. "Toshi-kun, do you go often to New York? Or America?"

He also had to admit it was super cute how she'd started calling him Toshi-kun. He practically melted into a pile of goo.

"It's been a while," he told her. "I haven't been to America in a long time, not since the first and last time I went there. I do miss it a bit. It would be nice to go back for a visit."

"Uh huh," she agreed. "I miss it too."

Before they could keep talking, the hospital came into view and Toshinori felt disappointed. His worry grew too, because he knew she was all alone in the city, walking around by herself.

"You'll be alright?" he asked anxiously, once they entered the hospital. They would have to separate for their different departments, but he was reluctant to leave her.

She gave him the cheesiest smile (it looked kind of familiar) before she accompanied it with a v-sign.

"I will!" she declared proudly. Then she gestured for him to come closer. "I'll let you in on a little secret~"

He half-knelt in amusement, leaning in to indulge her.

"I'm  _Mini-Might_ ," she whispered. Then she straightened up and gave him a mock salute, before turning around and skipping away.

He blinked before he began laughing uproariously, ignoring the looks being sent his way.

How cute! He'd met fangirls before, but this one had been adorable and one of the few he hadn't cringed at.

It didn't help her alter ego and name was too cute to resist.

"Good luck, little Miss Izuku," he murmured with a small smile.

Then he started coughing harshly, spitting up blood and alarming people around him.

Ah well. At least he'd managed to keep himself from doing this in front of  _Mini-Might_  so he wouldn't scare her off.

(He really hoped she would be okay though.)

* * *

Izuku was humming again, walking home as the sun started setting. She'd have school tomorrow, but she contemplated skipping. She didn't really like school…

"What the fuck are you doing around, Deku?" she heard Kacchan's voice and she looked up, seeing him in front of her and looking angry like usual.

"Kacchan!" she gave him a huge smile. "What're you doing here?"

"Tch, none of your damn business, idiot," he scowled, crossing his arms angrily. "I gotta go home, stupid Deku. Get out of my way."

He walked towards her, moving past her. Just as he passed, he reached out and pushed her shoulder away, his Quirk cackling around his hand. She felt her shoulder burn and she hissed out in pain, but he ignored her and kept going.

Kacchan didn't mean it. He really didn't.

Started 10/2/18 — Completed 10/7/18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, another update! So soon! It's because I wanted to get her childhood over with, since the next chapter goes into a huge time jump and we get to see her at 14 now. Finally! I'm super happy everyone's been enjoying this so far! Please remember to leave a review to feed my motivation and starving soul XD
> 
> Quick Points:
> 
> 1\. Toshinori: Ah, I know his part was smaller in here compared to All For One and Endeavor, but I hope everyone liked his scenes anyway. Plus, considering his role and his actual entrance, he'll be in here quite a lot!
> 
> 2\. Other BNHA stories: I have two one-shots, "Cake and Smiles" (AFO/Izuku) and "Miss You Like Crazy" (EnDeku; and now no longer a one-shot due to two special reviewers! –one good and one not so good ;P), and an M chaptered EnDeku story called "Don't Want to Touch You (But You're Under My Skin)". (10/4) There is also an Explicit-rated EnDeku chaptered story exclusively on my Ao3 account called "A Wolf in My Heart" made for Kinktober 2018. I would appreciate you guys checking them out and leaving a review~


	8. ...I'll Take Thee Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings! Bullying, etc. Watch the tags.

Izuku leaned against the wall, pressing her phone against her ear. Biting down hard on her lip, she waited for her father to say anything.

"Papa?"

But as usual, he stayed silent. She wondered why he even bothered answering.

For the past eight years, since he'd left her behind in Japan, she would call every month and try to get him to talk to her. He answered but he never said anything. It was usually five minutes spent in complete silence, where she bit back her crying. She would always do her best to forget these times and keep on smiling. Most of the time, she had nothing but her smile after all.

It wasn't long until he hung up first and she stayed where she was, still holding up her phone to her ear and listening to the dial tone. When she put it down, she sniffed once before taking a deep breath and smiling widely, heading to the kitchen so she could heat up dinner.

She hurriedly ate her dinner before taking out the cake that Hari had given her yesterday and cut a slice.

"Happy Birthday, Izuku," she whispered to herself.

Some tears slipped out, but she didn't acknowledge them as she quietly finished her slice. Besides, it wasn't even her birthday yet.

She still had four more hours to go.

After she was done, she got ready for bed. When she was finished, instead of going straight to trying to sleep, she sat on her bed and watched the clock. She had a few more minutes before it was midnight and then she would be turning fourteen. Until then though, for once, she'd stay up and wait until midnight struck.

It's not like she was looking forward to school tomorrow after all.

Part of her was tempted to call Shota or even Nemuri or Tsunagu. But Shota was working on a long term assignment since he'd expelled his entire class this school year, and for the others —

She was being clingy and dependent. She really shouldn't. And like the others in school said, she didn't want to —

There was Hari and Sensei. She could…but she'd just seen Hari yesterday. And Sensei…she was always depending on him and bugging him about things. And the last time, she'd talked to him, he'd seemed irritable, explaining that he'd had to deal with a problem that wouldn't go away. He was probably still dealing with it…

Glancing at the clock morosely, she noted there was ten more seconds until midnight. She would be —sharp pain echoed through her body, causing her to scream and fall back onto her bed, writhing in agony.

Searing series of cuts seem to plague her at her left wrist, above her left breast, and at her left side. She let out another scream and arched upwards, scared and wondering what was happening.

All too abruptly though, it all stopped and she was left with the lingering echoes of pain from whatever had just happened. Panting and trying to recover, she finally stumbled to her feet and struggled her way to her bathroom, where she tentatively took off her top. There, above her breast and on her side were initials.

_AH_ branded her breast while  _YT_ scarred her side.

Curious but extremely wary now, she took a look at her wrist and froze.

There, neatly written, was  _TE_.

* * *

In another part of Japan, a handsome man hissed but mostly ignored the pain shaking his body and then carving into his wrist. He'd gone through worse after all.

However, he  _recognized_  what this meant. He'd lived in an era where this happened to people and what happened after.

He'd finally gotten a Soulmate.

It was strange that after centuries and thinking he'd been born without one, and now suddenly he had one. Whoever they were had finally been born into this world and must've recently turned fourteen, answering why he'd not had a Soulmate or gotten a Mark when he'd turned fourteen all those years ago.

Lifting his wrist, he pulled down his sleeve before he slowly gained a large grin.

_MI_

He laughed gleefully.

Around the same time though, a certain blond had experienced the same pain, gasping for air as he collapsed off of his bed and began coughing harshly. Blood splattered out of his mouth and landed on his floor, and his body spasmed in pain.

Toshinori, in all his years as All Might, didn't think he'd ever felt this kind of pain. And when it was all over, he was confused and didn't understand what had happened. He only knew that his body hurt and his left wrist felt inflamed. Blearily lifting it up, he stared at the name in confusion.

Why on Earth did he suddenly have someone's initials on his wrist?

* * *

Hari sat side by side next to Izuku at the ramen stand, eating some hot soup before she would have to travel the rest of the way to school. At the moment, she was very quiet and focused on her noodles.

He observed her long jungle green hair, gone slightly wild (she must not have brushed it thoroughly to straighten it that morning). Her electric green eyes had always been gems, but now that she was older, they were like bright peridots and looked more mature at the age of fourteen than she should. Her lean frame was accentuated by lovely curves and slight definition of muscles, accompanied by that pretty face of hers. All in all, he wasn't unaware of how well Izuku had grown up

That didn't mean he'd tolerate and allow the teenage boy sitting several seats away from them to continue to gawk at her. If the little bastard didn't stop, he was going to gouge his eyes out.

"Hari?" she asked quietly, looking and sounding subdued.

He hid his frown. "Yeah, Boss?"

"…If you had  _three_  Soulmates, how would you feel?" she asked tentatively.

He scrunched up his eyebrows. He didn't really believe in Soulmates. He'd heard stories of how there were Soulmate pairs back before Quirks took over, but he'd always thought those were stories. The yakuza family Kai had served had believed in them and had told many of the stories he'd heard about Soulmates, but he hadn't bought into it. He knew Kai believed in it though.

But Izuku's question…

"If I had three…that would be problematic," he thought out. "You'd think you'd be ecstatic and be eager to have more than one, right? But there are so many problems that come with that. You have to make sure you spend time with them evenly, watch their jealousy, them getting along, you getting along with them…And you still have to see if they're Soulmated to each other as well, or just to you. I'm sure there's lots more that would be stressful in having a Soulmate, much less more than one, but I'm sure you get the gist."

"…Yeah," she mumbled, looking down at her bowl.

He frowned. "Don't worry about it, Boss. I highly doubt Soulmates are real anyway."

She gave him a shaky smile and he was about ready to question her. But then she looked at her phone and made a distressed noise.

"I'm going to be late!" she exclaimed. She turned back to him apologetically. "I'll see you later, Hari."

She gave him a quick hug before she trounced off. He finished off his tea and then looked over at the teenager.

Hari gave him a sharp smile.

* * *

Izuku reluctantly entered school grounds, still thinking about her…Soulmate Marks. Since hearing about Sensei's story about Soulmates and how there used to be Soulmates appearing centuries ago, she'd wished she'd had one. Anyone to just take her away from this loneliness and be there for her.

But  _three_?

Hari was right and she knew having three Soulmates wasn't normal. How could she even handle one, much less three? As much as she'd wanted one, she knew that  _she_  wasn't normal. Freak genetics, bad Quirk, mother dead at her hands…Why would someone want to deal with all that? Deal with her?

"Bad thoughts," Izuku mumbled, shaking her head and lightly slapping her cheeks. She made herself smile and continue on through the front grounds to go inside the school, heading to the shoe shelves. Taking off her shoes, she took out her uwabaki and took off her shoes, putting those into her storage unit in the getabako. That settled, she put on her uwabaki slippers.

"Ouch!" She jerked them off, feeling sharp pins piercing her skin.

She saw blood staining her socks and she upended her uwabaki, small tacks falling out of them to fall to the ground. She swallowed and blinked rapidly. Hearing snickers, she looked around. But though there were other students around, none of them were looking at her right then.

Izuku took a deep breath and put her feet into the slippers, knowing her Super Regeneration had healed her feet already. She picked up the tacks and threw them away, walking out of the genkan and heading towards the hallway to head to her locker.

Even before she was close to it, she could already see the words emblazoned on her locker in red spray paint.

_Hero Slut_

Tears pricked her eyes worse than ever and she had to bite her lip hard to make sure she didn't actually cry.

Why were they all so mean to her?

For as long as she could remember, why she didn't like school…everyone always seemed to pick on her and made her feel bad. If it wasn't Kacchan and his stupid friends hurting her and even physically beating her with their hands and feet or their Quirks, it was everyone else in school who would whisper things behind her back and call her names.

As the years went by and she grew older and started to  _look_  older (older than her actual age even),  _Hero Slut_  became one of the more prominent names they called her. It made it harder for her to turn to the others, because she didn't  _want_  to be a Hero Slut. She didn't want to cling to them and be like that or make them uncomfortable in any way, and hogging any amount of their time since she knew they were Pro-Heroes.

"Move out of the way, Deku!"

She whirled around to face Kacchan, giving him a watery smile. "K-Kacchan!"

He sneered. "Didn't you hear me? I said get out of the way! What the fuck are you crying for anyway, dumbass?" His eyes trailed over to her locker and she flinched. "Tch, can't handle the truth? If you don't want to be called that, then don't be so easy to spread your legs for Heroes," Kacchan scoffed at her.

"D-don't say that, Kacchan!" she shouted at him. "You know that's not true!"

He sniggered cruelly at her. "Yeah? Even if it isn't, everyone knows how obsessed you are with Heroes! It'll happen sooner than later."

"Why are you being like this?" she pleaded. "You're not supposed to be so mean to me, Kacchan!"

"Why not?' he mocked.

"Because we're god-siblings!" she cried out in frustration.

He made the angriest face. "You think I chose that? Like fuck I care, Quirkless bitch! Now  _move_  out of my way! Go jump off a roof or something. Maybe you'll finally get a Quirk if you reincarnate,  _Hero Slut_."

He pushed past her and she started crying into her hands, ignoring everyone whispering around her.

Kacchan…Kacchan…

He'd never really been her friend, had he?

* * *

Izuku barely paid attention in school. It felt like a blur and she kept to herself, ignoring the quiet laughter she knew was aimed at her. Even if they pointed at her or sent her glances, she just hunched in on herself and clutched her sketchbook to her. She stayed in her own little world, sketching Heroes like she usually did. This time, she'd been finishing up one she'd been working on for a while on Enji, decked out with his Hellflame and his costume.

"I bet she'd fucked him before."

She stilled and practically stopped breathing.

"You think?"

"Come  _on_. Look at that detail. She totally knows his body. There's no way she hadn't fucked him before."

"Yeah —I've seen her draw him before too. She likes drawing him a lot. She draws Hawks and Best Jeanist a lot too. Bet you she's slept with them too!"

Izuku forced a smile on her face and kept sketching, detailing the fire and shading in areas, watching the curve of Enji's jaw, which was a stronger line than Hawks or even Tsunagu…

"I wonder how someone as small as her was able to take on a huge guy like him. He probably tore her apart!"

The bell for lunch rang and she closed her sketchbook, clutching it to her chest as she rushed out of the class.

On the rooftop, she sat down and her tears began to fall, even as she took out the bento she'd made and started to eat. She wasn't hungry though and it was tasteless to her.

_Hero Slut_

It wasn't  _like_  that! She still remembered the Enji and his family that took care of her and that she'd always been a fan of him as Endeavor. And Hawks! Hawks had become a great Hero once he'd debuted and even already created his own agency when he'd turned eighteen. Tsunagu was sweet as he checked up on her occasionally and Nemuri called on her to talk to her about her students, ever since she started teaching at UA with Shota. And Shota…who quietly looked after her as frequently as he was able…

Izuku  _wasn_ _'t_  a Hero Slut. It wasn't like that…

Crying fully now, she hid her face into her hands and began to sob. She loved them. She loved all of them, but that didn't make her a slut, did it? She loved Heroes! She thought they were awesome and worked hard to protect everyone, and All Might was someone she wanted to be like —saving everyone with a smile.

But everyone here mocked her smile and hated her. How could she save anyone when everyone hated her?

She looked over at the sketchbook she'd opened up, seeing Endeavor's almost finished portrait.

If she'd been able to stay with him and his family, would her life had been better? Would Shoto and Fuyumi and Natsuo and Touya have been her family too, and been the friends she'd desperately wanted growing up? Friends that weren't like Kacchan?

_Go jump off a roof or something. Maybe you_ _'ll finally get a Quirk if you reincarnate,_ _**Hero Slut** _ _._

Izuku stared off beyond the fence, seeing the blue skies. The day was sunny and normal, but she felt empty. She found herself getting on her feet, loosely holding onto her sketchbook. She looked through the fence to the ground below and thought about her life.

Who would  _actually_  miss her?

Maybe the others would notice and care, but they had lives and other people to save. Sensei had so much to deal with already and Hari had his beloved boss he always talked to her about.

They'd move on.

Climbing the fence, she made her way over it and stood on the ledge, peering over it to the ground again. She gripped her sketchbook in her hand.

It was probably better this way.

Izuku took a step off the ledge and let herself fall.

Started 10/10/18 — Completed 10/13/18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end! No, no, I'm joking –don't kill me. Come on, guys, you know it's not over (sweats). I'm naturally a depressing person and I write a lot of depressing stuff…Maybe I was subconsciously feeding you guys so much fluff in preparation for this chapter? (Runs away) Please remember to review!
> 
> Quick Points:
> 
> 1\. Other BNHA stories: I have two one-shots, "Cake and Smiles" (AFO/Izuku) and "Miss You Like Crazy" (EnDeku; and now no longer a one-shot due to two special reviewers! –one good and one not so good ;P), and an M chaptered EnDeku story called "Don't Want to Touch You (But You're Under My Skin)". (10/4) There is also an Explicit-rated EnDeku chaptered story exclusively on my Ao3 account called "A Wolf in My Heart" made for Kinktober 2018. I would appreciate you guys checking them out and leaving a review~


	9. Wear a Necklace of Hope

It hurts…It hurts…

_Everything hurts_.

Izuku couldn't think of anything else. It hurt so much. It was like the time where she was covered in fire and was burning alive, only she couldn't be burned alive.

She was stupid. She should have remembered her Super Regeneration wouldn't have let her die so easily.

"Are yo…-kay? Can…speak…? I'm…"

She couldn't hear them clearly. What were they saying? No, no, thinking hurt. Everything hurt. Just go away!

She tried to speak, but the only things she could feel was her shattered bones mending, her skin sewing itself together, and the excruciating pain of it all. Everything was broken. She was broken.

"It's okay…it's going to be okay…"

What a soft, kind touch to her broken head…

* * *

"O-oh my God, oh my God," the Rabbit Hero Mirko, someone usually outspoken and tough, as befitting of the Number Five Hero, wasn't as composed and smart mouth as she was known to be.

Instead, as Naomasa tiredly observed, the highest ranked female Japanese pro was out of sorts and even crying a bit. Not that he could blame her. She had seen the jump from some distance away and had tried to travel as fast as she could, but he knew that she would have never made it in time. She had too, but she had to try.

She just came too late, like they both knew she would have, and instead came across some broken, bloody mess on the concrete floor of a middle high school.

"What a mess," his partner muttered. He looked at Sansa, who shook his head. "Kids are a crying disarray all over the place and we have staff in shock and not answering our questions. We can't move the body until forensics is done, and it might be too late by then to keep the media out of this."

"Sir, I think it's too late to not keep this from being accelerated and blown out of proportion by the media," one of Naomasa's officers said, holding up a phone. He played a video and Naomasa cursed in his head.

Shit. Someone had filmed the jump? What kind of fucking kids were growing up around here? He irritably thumbed through the posted videos and more like it popped up, but at least nothing had been shown of the body on the ground.

"Get someone monitoring this," Naomasa scowled. "Make sure no one else is videoing or taking photos, especially the body. See if anything else pops up on the Internet and you get Tech to take it down."

"Yes, sir!"

"I wonder what made her do it. Jump," Sansa said solemnly and Naomasa saw the officer hesitate in leaving.

"What is it?" he held the other back.

The officer bit his lip before taking out his phone again. "Um, I don't know if it's relevant, but someone directed me to this video and said the girl in it is the same girl who jumped."

Naomasa reluctantly took it before clenching his hand around the phone angrily as he watched.

" _You think I chose that? Like fuck I care, Quirkless bitch! Now_ _ **move**_ _out of my way! Go jump off a roof or something. Maybe you_ _'ll finally get a Quirk if you reincarnate,_ _ **Hero Slut**_ _."_

His blood boiled, but more than that, he  _knew_ this girl. He recognized her.

_Naomasa watched the lone girl stare up at the ceiling, no longer covered in burns as they said she had been._

_But a lifeless gaze and a struggling smile told him more than any words could._

_He wasn_ _'t looking forward in getting her statement in what had happened to her and her mother._

"Find this kid," Naomasa ordered. "Have him detained and call his parents. I want to get to the bottom of this."

"Detective! Detective Tsukauchi, Detective Sansa!  _She_ _'s still alive_!"

Naomasa's head snapped towards the CSI. Wait, could it be? Of course! If she could survive severe burns from Endeavor's Hellflame, then she should be able to live after a several foot fall to the ground. It sounded implausible, but he knew this girl's Quirk. She was resilient, even if it was unfair for her needing to be so.

He rushed over to her body and knelt down, seeing  _just_  the slightest movement of her chest to show she was indeed alive.

"Are you okay?" he tried. "Can you speak? I'm Detective Tsukauchi."

He saw her straining to open her mouth, but failed to do so and it only looked like it pained her to even try. His face and voice softened and he reached out gently to touch her head.

"It's okay…it's going to be okay…"

He was going to damn well make sure it was for her.

* * *

When Naomasa saw the kid from the video with Izuku, he didn't expect the shivering, snot-nose mess. He still wore an angry expression on his face, but he wouldn't look at anyone. His parents were there, standing off a little to the side. The kid looked like the spitting image of his mother, minus being a boy. Said mother looked like she wanted to either hug her kid or scream at him, but she was crying to herself. The father looked disappointed, saying nothing as he stood by his wife.

"Have you seen this video?" Naomasa said unsympathetically, showing the one he'd seen earlier to the boy.

The Bakugo's collectively flinched and this time the mother really did turn to her son and start screaming at him.

"What the hell, Katsuki?! You knew Izuku's been having a tough time! She's your freaking godsister! After Inko, after her father…how could you act like that with her?"

"Who cares?!" This Katsuki snarled back, gritting his teeth. He looked infuriated, which contrasted with the…tears? in his eyes. "Not only is she useless and Quirkless, but a coward too!"

"Katsuki!" the father snapped out, which startled the other two, leading Naomasa to think that the man wasn't usually someone easily angered. "You quiet down right now or I swear you'll be grounded for as long as you live under my roof!"

It sounded harsh, but Naomasa didn't feel any sympathy and even thought that wouldn't be enough. Katsuki didn't even sound remorseful (maybe a tinge if Naomasa allowed himself to really hear the kid and read into his body language and into his eyes).

"But she  _is_  useless!" Katsuki pushed. "And she's always clinging to me and stupidly following me around, when I'm better than her! Everyone knows it! She's always in the way! She's dumb and Quirkless!"

The mother let out a cry at that, looking disturbed at her child, even as she lashed out and slapped his face. "Don't you  _dare_  talk like that!"

Katsuki straightened up and glared at them. "If she's always hanging onto me, I'll never get anywhere! Everyone's always saying I'm going to head to the top and I can't with a freak like her always around me! Besides, it's her fault that Inko-obasan is dead and even her own dad hates her! Hisashi-ojisan wouldn't have left if it wasn't for her!"

At that, Naomasa cut in. "That was  _not_ her fault," he said severely, looking at the unruly teenager in front of him. "I handled that case and in  _no way_  was her mother's death her fault. As for her father…what he's done is irresponsible and definitely not her fault!"

If he'd known Midoriya Hisashi had left his daughter alone to fend for herself here…He should have checked in on her.

Katsuki flinched but refused to back down. But then he shook his head and slammed his hands against his head, shaking it rapidly.

"Shut up, shut up! Fuck all of you! I'm the fucking one who saw her jump! I get the fucking say!"

Naomasa stopped short and stared at the kid, finally feeling…just a bit of pity. To have actually seen that…but then maybe it was karma. He'd been part of the trauma inflicted on Izuku, so it was only karmic right that he'd seen the consequences of his actions.

"Maybe it was your punishment."

Naomasa blinked, for a moment thinking he'd accidentally said something cruelly like that aloud. But then he saw the kid's father was being stared at by his wife and son, and realized it had been him instead.

"Masaru…" the mother whispered, looking at her husband in shock.

Masaru scowled at his son though, focused on him. "I  _promised_  Inko that if anything would happen, that I would make sure her daughter was taken cared of. Even if Hisashi had forbidden us from being able to truly take Izuku in, you were  _still_  supposed to look after and see Izuku as if she were your  _sister_. That my own son would treat a girl like this, much less the girl that was supposed to be family…you have  _no idea_ how disappointed in you I am."

Katsuki flinched and Naomasa took a deep breath. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I was hoping to discuss with you about the events that led up to Midoriya-kun's suicide attempt."

"Attempt?" the mother asked, looking hopeful.

He nodded. "She's alive. Her Super Regeneration Quirk saved her, just as it did the time of her mother's death, where she'd nearly burned to death. If she didn't have that Quirk, she would've died then," he tacked on, making sure to glance at the boy dispassionately, seeing him flinch before looking back at Naomasa wide-eyed.

"When can we see her?" Masaru asked quickly.

"I don't know," Naomasa said honestly. "She's being transported to the hospital as we speak and last I checked, she was…40% in recovery. It's been slow-going, probably due to how extensive her injuries are and that she probably doesn't have experience healing at this magnitude, aside from that one other time. Honestly, even if she's recovered, I'm not sure she should have an onslaught of visitors, at least at this time." He looked at the boy then. "I also don't believe it's a good idea for him to see her."

Ever.

"We understand," Masaru said solemnly. "Mitsuki or I will stay with Katsuki, while the other goes to visit when it's okay and Izuku doesn't mind."

"That said, we'd like the three of you to go to the station, so young Katsuki can answer questions. We've interviewed a lot of witnesses around here already, but as Katsuki has been tied into the incident, we'd especially like to go over things with him thoroughly."

"We'll head straight there," Mitsuki said firmly, turning to her son and grabbing his hand, dragging him away while shaking her head.

Masaru watched them before turning to Naomasa. "Would you at least call us to let us know her condition? I would like to know how she is. Over the years, despite Hisashi's adamant wishes and threats if anyone bothered his daughter, we did try to help her with little things that wouldn't cripple her. I don't know what Hisashi's thinking, but I am glad that Izuku grew up able to take care of herself and be independent, even if I wish someone would've helped her through whatever issues she seemed to have hidden inside of herself."

"Sometimes people just feel things and can't —or don't want to —express them," Naomasa told him. "Sometimes we just have to do our best to look at them and  _really_  look at them."

Masaru gave him a grim smile before he walked away.

* * *

Tsunagu felt his lips press into a thin, angry line as he strode through the hall.

" _Hello? Is this, um, Ouji-sama?" The voice was tentative and_ _ **not**_ _Izuku._

" _This is he," he said sternly. "Is this Izuku's caretaker?"_

"… _No, sir. I'm sorry, but you were near at the top of her contacts list and we've been trying to inform her family and friends of the…She's in the hospital, sir."_

_That stopped him in his tracks and he ignored the looks from his sidekicks._ _"What happened?" he asked, switching gears and feeling worried._

" _!2 o'clock today, Midoriya-kun jumped off the roof of her school building and is recovering in the hospital at this moment. As her listed guardian is overseas and cannot be contacted at all, I am reaching out to the numbers she has on her phone since she has no other listed guardian."_

_No_ _…guardian? So she'd_ _**never** _ _had any caretakers, like he_ _'d always thought she did?_

_But his mind tried to avoid the thought of her_ _…_ _**jumping** _ _from the roof. He couldn_ _'t and the image was created in his brain._

_Is she okay? What had happened? Why would she do that? He didn_ _'t understand —he'd just talked to her earlier that week and was going to surprise her with Nemuri with a small birthday party between the three of them._

_Wait, today was her birthday. She jumped on her birthday?_

_Tsunagu took a deep breath._ _"Thank you for informing me," he said stoically. "I will be heading to the hospital now."_

_He hung up and stared at the ground._

" _Sir?"_

" _I'll be going to the hospital. If it's urgent, call me. Otherwise, please handle it on your own," he said as politely and normally as he could, but then he made his way quickly out of there._

Now his legs were moving even quicker to reach her hospital room, wanting answers as to why Izuku would do such a stupid thing.

But then he knew part of the answer already, didn't he? It had to have been lonely all these years in that apartment, growing up and living by herself. He and Nemuri regretfully couldn't be there all the time, and though they'd initially thought her father was dead like her mother, after what the person on the phone had said, it was obvious he was alive and overseas somewhere and not checking in on his daughter.

Maybe he was alive, but it felt worse knowing that since he wasn't even around to watch over his daughter or care about her growing up.

And as he stood in front of her door finally, he pursed his lips and went inside. He felt his shoulders slump as he saw her and all of his upset anger left him as he saw her in her hospital bed, surrounded by hospital machines and looking so pale and small in her bed.

She looked healed and okay, but he wondered how she could have survived the fall and look so unhurt. Was it her Quirk? He'd never asked about her Quirk, he realized. He'd been concerned about her and her situation, so her Quirk had been overlooked.

Her breath sounded shaky and he hoped she was breathing okay. His steps towards her were slower, careful. He didn't want to wake her or disturb her from her sleep in any way.

"Why would you do this?" he whispered, shaking his head. He laid a hand on her head and frown. She shivered and he picked up the blanket, pulling it up and tucking it around her shoulders.

"When you wake up, you're going to explain to me what was going on in your head, you hear me, Oujo-sama?" He started off stern, but ended up with a fond tone. "After all, I still need a princess to my princeliness," he said, tone turning wry.

His kissed her forehead and dragged a chair over, reaching over to hold her blanket-covered hand.

* * *

Nemuri worried her lower lip, jabbing at the elevator's button impatiently. Once it finally opened, she rushed in and was about to press the close button when someone shouted out.

"Please hold it!"

She knew that voice and looked up to see Shota running towards her, looking disgruntled. She furrowed her eyebrows.

"You look surprisingly active and not sleepy," she halfheartedly teased, but Shota just grunted as he entered into the elevator.

"Visiting someone?" he managed to ask once the elevator started moving, shoulders slumping over.

She glanced at him worriedly. "Yeah, you could say that."

The elevator doors opened after some time in it and they both stepped out, only glancing at each other in mild surprise. However, as they continued to walk, soon even speed walking a bit, Nemuri was starting to get confused (despite her upset state) as Shota continued in the same direction as her.

But then she arrived at the correct room and reached for the door handle, only to touch someone else's hand. She looked over and saw Shota.

"What're you…"

"You know Izuku-chan?" she gasped.

Shota blinked tiredly. "You know Izu-rin?"

She almost giggled. Ahhh, what a cute nickname! And it was from  _Shota_  of all people too…

"Let's go in. We can get explanations later, I suppose," Shota lazily scratched at his chin, but opened the door for her.

She entered first and then he stepped in behind her. Then he stopped short when he saw  _Best Jeanist_  sitting by Izuku's side, looking exhausted as he held onto her hand and propped up his head with his other hand.

"Best Jeanist?"

"Tsunagu? You're here already?"

Shota looked at her and then at Tsunagu, and she could already see him becoming bewildered. But he looked like he realized something then.

"Nemu-neesan," he pointed to her. Then he looked at Tsunagu.

"Tsuna-ouji," Tsunagu sighed, though Nemuri smirked. She still loved that.

"So I just have to find out who Hari and Kuro-san is," Shota grumbled. "And maybe this Sensei she's always talking about."

"What about you?" she asked.

"Sho-yan," he said bluntly, not even blinking at it. She inwardly squealed. That was so cute!

"Who's Kuro-san? I've heard her talk about Hari and Sensei," Tsunagu frowned and Nemuri already knew that he'd been trying to work on finding out and confronting Izuku's guardians.

However, knowing now that 'Sho-yan' was Shota eliminated him at least.

"Sho-yan is a cute nickname though. Of course I'm glad that eliminates you, unless you  _are_  her guardian?" which would make all those frequent long absences make sense, as Shota would have needed to leave for all those missions of his.

"No," Tsunagu surprisingly said. "She has no guardian. At all."

She and Shota looked at him sharply.

"When I was called about Izuku," the blond started. "They said her father was overseas and her only guardian listed, and that there was no one listed here. They were calling contacts on her phone to at least be able to call anyone for her."

"Why are we in the hospital? What happened to Izuku?" Nemuri asked. "They called me, but only told me that she'd been hurt and was here."

Shota frowned. "When they called me, all I was told was the same thing."

Tsunagu grimaced. "I was told that she'd…she'd jumped off the roof of her school building. Her Quirk must've stopped her from dying and helped her recover to her current state."

Nemuri gasped loudly, holding her hands to her mouth. Why would Izuku do such a thing?!

Shota strode over to Izuku's side, on the opposite side of Tsunagu, and looked pained as he reached out to touch her shoulder.

"Why the hell would she do such a dumb thing?"

"I think I can answer that question for you."

The three of them turned to the door, spotting who Nemuri recognized as Detective Tsukauchi, most Heroes having a tendency to have worked with him at one point.

"Detective?" she bit down on her lip.

"Please sit down," he told them gravely. "I think it'd help."

Nemuri wasn't sure she wanted to sit down.

* * *

Naomasa had been caught off guard to see the three Pro-Heroes, not knowing why they were there. But then Eraserhead explained how he'd met Izuku one night, while staking out a building for a target, and having treated the girl to a late night snack and then making sure she's been well over the past years and that she was eating her vegetables.

Then Midnight was recalling how she met her in a grocery store, taking Izuku back to her apartment, and then calling Best Jeanist over. That the two of them had been periodically trying to check in on her as much as they could, with their Hero work and living and working away from where she was.

"You said you could answer us on why she'd jump from her school's rooftop," Best Jeanist focused on him.

He gave him a grim look. "As I and others on my team have discovered, she's been heavily bullied through the years because they thought she was Quirkless. The things we heard happen and said to her…were very…unkind."

"'Unkind' sounds like an understatement," Eraserhead glared at him, eyes bloodshot.

Naomasa sighed. "No, not when you have the words 'Hero Slut' emblazoned on your locker, tacks being planted in your school slippers, or being constantly whispered about sleeping with Heroes just because you adore them and are a big fan."

Midnight stood up abruptly, chair screeching while she breathed heavily. "They did what? Who did all that to Izuku?!"

Naomasa massaged the back of his neck. "This…this was all things done to her today. No one's come forth on any of it, but it sounds like everyone is pointing fingers at each other, and that if I can figure it out through what everyone is saying…at one point, someone did something or said something against her. She's…she's unpopular. Apparently the school bully is the most popular kid with a powerful Quirk and they stroked his ego to the point where he's become a narcissistic poster boy for egotism, and he's severely bullied and put down Midoriya-kun this entire time since they were children."

"Where is this kid?" Midnight snapped.

"At the station with his parents," Naomasa said. "He's being taken cared of, so please don't storm down there, Midnight-san."

Midnight narrowed her eyes at him but said nothing.

"But why didn't she ever say anything about any of that to us?" Best Jeanist sounded frustrated.

He took a deep breath. "She's been called Hero Slut constantly, remember?"

Naomasa tried to ignore the blank looks sent his way, not wanting to look at them and their faces devoid of emotion. But then like a volcano, all three of them were just absolutely furious, unable to help it.

"Don't you dare tell me —"

"Midoriya-kun loves Heroes," he interrupted Midnight tiredly. "She was known around school as being practically in love with all of them. A few mentioned that she drew a certain few constantly, compared to the rest —you three included, along with All Might, Endeavor, and Hawks. A lot of comments spouted back at me as being said that, Endeavor in particular, she seemed to have too keen an eye and was able to create such detail on him. Too much detail that a lot of her fellow students would whisper how she'd probably…slept with him. Or you, Best Jeanist, or Hawks. Though it was said in a much cruder way."

Best Jeanist stood straight, gaze intensely focused on Naomasa. " _This_ kept her from talking about such behavior with myself or Midnight, or Eraserhead?"

"If you're being constantly told such cruel things and being called a Hero Slut, it gets to you," Naomasa clenched his jaw. "I'm sure she probably didn't want the three of you to be uncomfortable or that she was being like that with you all."

"Of course damn not!" Midnight shouted. "Those fucking kids don't know what they're talking about! And when she wakes up, I'm gonna make sure she knows not to listen to those idiots!"

He flinched, privately agreeing. He had no idea what was going on in these damn schools. Just because she was thought Quirkless (and she wasn't) and because some kid was doing it, they were all just going to gang up on a helpless girl like her? The hell was wrong with these kids and the schools? Even the adults were unbelievable. How the hell do you not catch this happening? Or not do anything about it? They couldn't possibly all just be turning a blind eye or be so oblivious!

He adjusted the folders in his hand, unfortunately drawing attention to them.

"What are those?" Eraserhead asked coldly and Naomasa straightened up uneasily.

"Just papers," he answered vaguely.

"On this case?" Midnight asked sharply.

He couldn't lie in front of these Pro-Heroes, not when they were all focused on him so intently.

"Yes," he reluctantly said. He debated keeping them from the others, but knew Eraserhead would somehow obtain copies. It was the man's job to do things like this, even now when he was a UA teacher and not so much an active Underground Hero.

He handed it over and the three browsed through the files.

"…someone as small as her…take on…huge guy…probably tore her apart…" he heard Midnight angrily mutter.

"These are all the pictures?" Eraserhead said, voice quiet and he winced. Those photos…

"Most of them," Naomasa answered just as quietly. He knew how graphic they were.

Midnight looked over Eraserhead's arm and her face paled. "Oh my God…"

"Her Super Regeneration helped her out again," Naomasa told her. "Thankfully. A normal person…"

"Would've died on impact," Best Jeanist said without inflection. "What is this about videos?"

Naomasa paled. "It's nothing —"

But Best Jeanist had already fished out his phone and typed in the links that had been listed on the page, where the three of them then began to stoically watch Izuku's fall and then her…argument with Bakugo Katsuki with growing fury on their faces.

"I swear, Detective, you better have the kid locked up in that prison, because if I see him…" Midnight trailed off, her usual sadistic vibe less playful and nothing to do with her persona, and more to the passionate anger in her over someone she clearly cared about.

"Detective Tsukauchi, I will be joining you in this investigation," Eraserhead said calmly (Naomasa doubted he was). "I hope you won't be declining my help."

The look on his face dared him to even try.

"I think I will be…talking to the Board of Education and discussing the current education system. Clearly, it's lacking," Best Jeanist said flatly.

Midnight was pursing her lips. "I'm going to see if I can do something about her guardian situation. If she really does only have her father and he's not responding, maybe she can be granted a substitute here or something."

Naomasa wasn't sure how well Midnight could do on that front, but he hoped that something would be managed.

* * *

In the Todoroki household, morning was bright and early for Shoto and Fuyumi. Shoto's sister was already up, having needed to get ready for her work. On the other hand, Shoto had reluctantly gotten up, not ready to be awake that early.

He  _was_  unsure at how his father wasn't awake though. Todoroki Enji was the type of person that was used to keeping a regular routine, and he was usually up in the morning. For as long as Shoto could remember, his father was usually up by now. It was only on rare occasions that he slept in.

"Wake up Otou-san, won't you?" Fuyumi asked him, sounding a tinge worried.

Shoto nodded distractedly, moving out of the kitchen since his father wasn't up and cooking yet. Instead, he found a bucket, filled it with water, and then traipsed all the way to his father's room. Without hesitation, he dumped the water on top of his father, who groaned and turned away from him and just lit up, drying up instantly.

"Really, Shoto?" his father grumbled.

"Are you not  _All Might_  right now?" Shoto deadpanned, though a little bit of a taunt entered his tone. "I thought you'd  _Endeavor_  to be the best all the time? Unless you  _Hawked_  all that up for Izu-chan."

Yes, he still remembered the punning goodbye his father forced himself to say to Midoriya Izuku all those years ago…and wasn't afraid to taunt his father with.

Seeing his father's body still on the bed, Shoto tensed and got ready. Then his father slipped out of bed, towards him with a speed he wasn't usually equipped with (at least in the morning after just waking up) and Shoto evaded the punch.

"Too slow," he said in a bored tone. "Must be your age."

His father just grunted, all while Shoto quickly dashed out of the room. He passed by a sleepy Natsuo.

"Goddamn it, you two, it's too early in the morning for this crap!"

But it was morning tradition in the Todoroki household, ever since his father had lessened his training with Shoto and Shoto had grown, suddenly having an eagerness in him to fight and train, and just deciding to push his father until he could pull him into some serious training.

"Please don't break anything this time, you guys!" he heard Fuyumi shout from the kitchen, probably setting it up. "We can't keep fixing the house after one of your morning spars!"

His father swept his legs from under him at that and Shoto grumbled in his head. Natsuo walked by them.

"That's 10-0 for this month, isn't it?" Natsuo yawned. "Tough luck, Shoto. Maybe next time."

His eye twitched, though he accepted the hand his father tiredly held out, pulling him up. He eyed his father at that though, since his father wasn't hiding his tired state like he normally would.

Still, he listened as his father began telling him where he was weak in, how he needed to adjust his form, and the tips he gave Shoto to improve.

* * *

Enji felt exhausted, having not had a good sleep. He still remembered the fact that, strangely enough, he'd woken up with a searing pain around midnight, where he found his wrist bleeding profusely. After cleaning up, he was bewildered to see the letters  _MI_  on his wrist, not sure what it all meant.

Heading into the kitchen in his distracted state, he set out to cook breakfast, ignoring how Shoto had grabbed an egg and was using his Hot side to cook the egg in his hand. There were times where he really questioned his children…

"Good morning, Otou-san," Fuyumi greeted him with a smile.

"Morning, Fuyumi," he mumbled, setting the fried eggs aside.

"I'm going to be late in coming home today," she informed them. "So probably eat dinner without me, okay?"

"Do you need me to drop off food for you later?" he asked, starting to wake up more as he finished up the sausages.

"That would be nice!"

He nodded, still feeling distracted. He turned off the stove and brought the food over. Spotting one of his parenting books hidden underneath the table but peeking out a bit, he tried to subtly slide it completely out of view. His kids were (purposely) looking away.

"I'm going to visit Okaa-san today," Shoto said abruptly, glancing at him.

Enji awkwardly stood there, hands unfortunately free since he'd already set the food down.

"…Yeah, okay. You could…bring her some leftovers if you want."

"Can I take the rest of the soba to share with her?" Shoto asked, already starting to put some breakfast onto his plate.

"You go do that," Enji muttered.

"Hey, I want to take some for lunch today," Natsuo protested. "Don't hog it all, Shoto!"

He tuned them out, sitting down and setting aside his own plate of food. His exhaustion was still plaguing him.

"Otou-san, what happened to your wrist?" Fuyumi asked worriedly and he blinked, coming back to the present.

He automatically slapped a hand on said wrist, glancing at his kids. "It's nothing," he said dismissively. "Probably happened during the night."

"But I saw it," Fuyumi insisted. "It doesn't look like a normal wound. Those are letters!"

"Are you hurting yourself?" Natsuo looked at him with a strange look on his face.

"What? No!" Enji straightened up. "Look, I really don't know where it came from. It's probably nothing."

His kids were still looking at him suspiciously, but he ignored them and focused on his food. Eventually, they looked away and started to focus on eating as well. When they were done, plates were cleaned up and then stacked by the sink, and then Fuyumi was heading to work while Shoto and Natsuo headed to their respective schools.

Enji rubbed his face agitatedly, remembering why else his night had been ruined, other than waking up to being suddenly scarred up and in pain.

The dream he'd had was still vivid in his mind and he also knew it wasn't just a dream, but had been a memory that he hadn't forgotten this entire time.

_When Enji stared out the window, he was inwardly torn on what to do. After what had happened in the cemetery, he didn_ _'t want to bother them anymore, but he also was worried on what was going to happen next for Izuku._

_The knock on his home_ _'s door made him focus on the present and he reluctantly got up to answer it, only to be taken aback by the presence of Midoriya Hisashi at his doorstep._

" _M-Midoriya-san," he greeted uneasily. "What can I do for you? Please come in."_

_He let the man into his home and waited for him to say something, even with the severe and still angry look on his face._

" _Is Izuku alrig —"_

" _She's fine," Hisashi snapped at him. "And is who I want to talk to you about."_

_Enji straightened up with a frown._

_Hisashi was a head shorter than him and still managed to glare straight into his eyes._

" _I'm returning to America," Hisashi said coldly. "Please do not bother us anymore."_

_He found himself flinching._ _"The two of you are moving to America?"_

_Hisashi oddly paused at that, before nodding sharply._ _"We won't be needing your services anymore."_

_The other man stepped back then and reached for the door, glancing back at Enji dismissively._

" _I guess there's a reason why you were always stuck at Number Two," Hisashi sneered. "Not that that idiot All Might is actually any better."_

_Hisashi opened the door and stepped out, walking away while Enji took in a shaky breath and closed his eyes._

He'd woken up then to the pain of being stabbed by imaginary knives and his wrist being cut into, seeing his wrist bleeding heavily. He'd staunched the flow quickly, cleaned it off to realize it had already healed over, and that there was now two letters written into his skin for some reason.

Even now his wrist was aching. He glanced down at it, seeing the pretty lettering of  _MI_  scarred into his wrist. He had no idea what it meant, but he was sure he had to cover it up somehow.

Reminiscent of his dream, there was a knock on his door that made him glance up warily. Going to it, he wasn't expecting the sight of Detective Tsukauchi and Eraserhead though.

"Endeavor-san, may we come in?" Detective Tsukauchi asked quietly and the one who had probably brought Eraserhead, seeing as few people knew where he lived.

He frowned but allowed them in, before leading them to the living room.

"What is this about?" he asked harshly, watching them warily as they all sat down.

"As you remember, we were both concerned over the case of Midoriya Izuku some years ago," Tsukauchi said carefully and he stiffened up.

"I do remember. What does she have to do with this?" he asked, protectiveness leaking into his voice.

"As the last person, aside from her, to have contact with Midoriya Hisashi, we were wondering if you knew where he is and what did he last say to you?" Eraserhead asked then.

Enji stopped short, unable to not be confused.

"They're in America," he said slowly.

The two shared a look that made him irritated.

"What?" he snapped at them.

"Izuku-kun hadn't gone to America with him," Tsukauchi said seriously. "She's been in Japan this entire time, living in that same apartment."

He felt cold all of a sudden. "What, no. Midoriya came here before he left and warned me off," he insisted to them. "He said…he said…" But Hisashi had never explicitly said so. "He'd  _implied_  that Izuku was coming to America with him and told me to leave them alone."

Shit.  _No_. All this time, Izuku had been alone in that apartment over the years and he hadn't known. Instead, he'd let himself stay away and left her alone because of her father. If he'd known…Goddamn it! He should have said fuck that guy and looked in on that apartment just in case.

Seething to himself, he missed the other two's glances at each other.

"You'll probably put it together once you see the news, but I felt it was best to warn you beforehand, even if they keep out her name," Tsukauchi started. "Yesterday, Izuku-kun jumped off her school building and is currently in the hospital."

Did he just…hear right? No…no…

Was it his fault? Did what he did, what happened before haunt her this entire time and finally upset her enough to jump? No…fuck —he had really fucked up last time, hadn't he? And he messed up even more by leaving her alone to deal with it.

"It wasn't your fault," Eraserhead said, looking tired as usual. But Enji didn't think the other man understood. "I know what happened back then and I don't think it had anything to do with the present," he continued firmly. "Izuku was being harassed and bullied by her classmates."

Eraserhead grabbed a thick leather-bound book with bloodstains coating the edges.

"Hey, that was evidence," Tsukauchi interrupted, glaring at Eraserhead, who shrugged.

"It's hers and he should see that she'd still been thinking of him," Eraserhead said decisively.

Enji slowly took the notebook, flinching as his fingers touched the dried blood. Opening it, he saw a multitude of sketches, with a lot of pages dedicated to him and sometimes some of his family. The last page that had anything on it was of him too, but blood splatters ruined it.

He stared at it blankly.

"This is going to be a huge investigation," Eraserhead said with a scowl. "I don't know if you're willing, but  _I_ _'d_ like to include you in it, especially since you had close ties with her."

Enji looked up at him, looking at him like he was idiot. "Of course I want to be included. She was…she is…" Izuku had been  _his_  responsibility…

"Which hospital is she in now? How is she doing?" he asked quickly.

"Tokyo General," Eraserhead said. "She's…recovered fully. No injuries because of her Super Regeneration. But…she hasn't woken up yet."

That wasn't right. Last time, when it had been because of his Hellflame, she recovered and had been awake quickly enough after. What was wrong?

"I don't think she wants to wake up," Eraserhead admitted unhappily.

Enji clenched his jaw. He was going to goddamn make sure she did.

* * *

He angrily stomped through the halls, clutching onto the sketchbook. He didn't know what angered him more —that he'd failed in rectifying his mistake to Izuku, that he hadn't been able to look after her properly and making everything up to her, that she'd stupidly jumped off a building to commit suicide, or the fucking fact these fucking kids had done and said all of that to her!

A  _Hero Slut_? He was going to goddamn murder someone. And those videos! Fuck, everything was pissing him off and he wanted to just lash out and vent. He didn't think he'd felt this angry in years. He was at the point where he wanted to beat the shit out of something. Or someone.

He stopped in the middle of the hallway and focused on his breathing, remembering Izuku's sweet cherubic face. She'd helped him get over this, to not be so damn angry. He just needed to focus in on that. It was doing him no good in being angry when he was going to see her.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath, before continuing his way to her room. When he opened the door, he hadn't expected the sharp pain to erupt at his wrist again and he dropped the sketchbook to clutch at it, hissing out in pain.

"What the fuck?!" he muttered.

He looked at his wrist then, as the pain faded, and stared at the name now etched into his skin.

_Midoriya Izuku_

"What?" he asked in confusion. Why would her name appear like this?

He looked at her then, but uncomfortably straightened up. It really had been a while since he'd last seen her. Even pale and looking small in the hospital bed, he was surprised at how…pretty she'd gotten. Not that she hadn't always been pretty, but…now she was older and she looked it.

He didn't know what to feel about that.

He took another deep breath and picked up the sketchbook, going into the room as he closed the door behind him. He sat in the chair beside her and observed her face. It was like and not at all like the face he remembered.

She looked more mature now and had obviously grown up, but he still remembered the little girl that had wound up with his family for a week and somehow changed things. But now she was here, alone and asleep and having obviously kept her unhappiness to herself all these years.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," he told her, reaching out hesitantly before touching her hand. He warmed his hand a little because her hand felt so cold, too cold…"I promise I'm not going anywhere."

No, no…This time, he and his family weren't going anywhere.

Started 10/16/18 — Completed 11/19/18

**Omake!**

It was time for him to bring Izuku back to her father, having received the call that he was back in the country and waiting for her at home.

Enji didn't want to bring her back.

Part of him worried about her and about her going back, what with what had happened and how she was feeling. He also didn't think she'd dealt with her feelings and grief properly.

But most importantly, she felt right being there and he and his family had actually felt happier and closer together since she'd come into their lives.

He was a little bit afraid of her leaving and everything going back to normal. The difference he felt and saw in his life and his family now, compared to before Izuku, had become noticeable and he didn't want things to go back to how they were. Or become worse.

"Are you All Might?" she asked and he gave her a strange look.

"Izuku, you know I'm Endeavor," he said in confusion.

"No, no," she gave him a small, trembling smile. "Are you  _All Might_? You look very upset."

All Might?…Oh — _Alright_. 'Are you alright?'

"Um…" he shifted. "I feel like I was Gang Orca'd." No, he wasn't good at this at all.

She giggled through the tears that started to appear.

"I hope you Endeavor through your problems, Todoroki-san!"

His lips twitched. He could do that one.

"I promise to Endeavor to be the best all the time," he swore.

She gave him a huge smile.

Enji really didn't want to bring her home.

But he grabbed her hand and led her out of the house, glancing at his son watching them with his heterochromic eyes. He looked upset.

Then again, Enji admitted he was too.

Started 11/20/18 — Completed 11/20/18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this one was a doozy XD And a long one! Geez. Sorry I took a bit for this update, but there was a lot I wanted to fit in and all this wasn't even in my original chapter plan (only a little bit made it in). I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Please remember to review, because the motivate the hell out of me :D
> 
> Quick Points:
> 
> 1\. Current BNHA fics as of 11/8: "Advent of a Heroine" (main), "Don't Want to Touch You (But You're Under My Skin)" (Main EnDeku), "Miss You Like Crazy" (EnDeku Soulmate series), "Cake and Smiles" (AFOIzu, became a three-shot), an exclusive Ao3 EnDeku smut fic called "A Wolf in My Heart" (done for Kinktober), and a new EnDeku fic called "Miles in Your Mind". I also have an EnDeku one-shot recently published called "A Little Sugar & Honey". Please check them out~


	10. Can I Wake Up to Your Love?

It was dark in the room when she finally woke. She'd slowly opened her eyes, not recognizing anything. She did realize she was in a hospital room, seeing the machines and all.

So she didn't die and had fully healed. Izuku didn't know how she felt about that. The darkness and silence of the hospital room reminded her of her apartment, an inexplicable familiar loneliness gripping her. Once again, she was all alone —

The door opened and a man she hadn't seen in years stepped in.

She gasped loudly, drawing his attention.

"Izuku?"

Todoroki Enji, someone she hadn't seen or talked to in years, ever since the first and last time where she'd stayed with him and his family. Since then, she'd known him only from afar as Endeavor.

Now here they were.

Before she could blink and register his movement, he'd quickly made his way to her side, putting a heated hand on top of her forehead. She didn't dare unfurl from the ball she'd curled up as, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"T-Todoroki-san," she whispered, not sure how to take his presence.

He looked aggrieved. "I should have checked on you," he said suddenly. "I didn't know you were all alone. Your father…your father visited before he left and made it seemed like both of you…No, it's no excuse. I shouldn't have listened and checked on you anyway. What the hell do I care what your father says? If I had known you were left alone, I would have taken you in."

He hunched down to be at eye level. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I fucked —I messed up. Again. But I promise me and my family will always be there for you." She looked up at him in wonder. "I'm so sorry," he repeated. "I wanted to make things up to you and be there for you, but I failed. Please forgive me."

She found herself grabbing his hand and taking it off of her forehead, holding tightly to it instead.

"I'm really happy to see you, Todoroki-san!" she smiled brightly at him.

She saw him stare at her before something rare happened. He smiled himself, softly at her as he brought her closer into a warm hug. Her heart skipped a beat as she felt the heat of his body, listened to the loud thumps of his heartbeat, as her forehead pressed firmly against his chest.

She ended up glancing down at the hand she still held onto. She glimpsed her name emblazoned on his wrist and stilled in his arms.

To think, Todoroki Enji ended up being one of her Soulmates.

* * *

Hari looked down coldly at the bloodied figure by his feet, hands in his pockets casually. The phone in his left pocket vibrated next to his hand, but he ignored it. He nudged the figure with his foot.

"Are you still alive?" he asked indifferently.

He didn't get an answer, but his phone buzzed again. Sighing in aggravation, he took his phone out and answered.

"Hello?" he asked apathetically.

"Hello, is this Hari?"

"Yeah, this is him," Hari nudged the figure again, seeing it twitch.

"I apologize for the late notice, but we haven't been able to reach you. You were on the contacts list of a Midoriya Izuku and we've been contacting everyone on it —as of yesterday Midoriya-kun has been in the hospital. While her injuries were severe, she's currently in a stable condition."

"What hospital?" he demanded immediately.

The hell! Yesterday, he'd been on a mission to catch this guy and after here, he'd had plans to surprise Izuku with a belated birthday dinner. Upset now, Hari got all the details he needed before hanging up.

* * *

Hawks rushed through the hallways, ignoring the stares and exclamations. When he'd gotten the call, he'd been frantic. This was  _Izuku_. Chibi Izuku who he adored and who he'd been friends with since they first met on that junkyard of a beach. She was like his biggest supporter! More than that, she was like his little sister!

His really pretty little sister, who he always felt like beating the shit out of any guy that looked her way.

There! Her door. He opened it and was about to step in, when someone spoke from behind him.

"Do you know Izuku?"

He turned around to face another blond, just the same height as Hawks and wearing…a raincoat? Hawks narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm like her big brother," Hawks snapped out. "Who are  _you_?"

The other blond blinked before grinning widely. "I'm Hari! I'm like her  _other_  big brother."

They both blinked this time, staring at each other.

"You aren't dating her really?" Hawks asked to make certain, wary.

"You aren't?"

"No."

"No."

"I have a tendency to violently make sure boys stay away," Hari cheerfully confessed.

"I beat them up —well, threaten to," Hawks admitted.

"You're a Hero."

"It's Izuku!"

Hari and Hawks held out a hand each, suddenly grinning at each other while shaking hands firmly.

"I think we'll just get along fine," Hari said decisively. "Did you know just yesterday morning, I had to deal with this loud, obnoxious brat that was staring at Izuku when we were trying to have breakfast together? It was truly annoying."

Hawks nodded. "Isn't it? The other day, Izuku and I were at an arcade and…"

He felt relief that he'd found someone else who agreed with him that sometimes Izuku just needed a protection detail against all these assholes who don't know how to keep their eyes in their skulls.

"Hey, do you know why she was in the hospital?" Hawks asked him, having not been told on the phone.

Hari frowned. "I wasn't told either. They just told me her injuries were severe, but that she was now in a stable condition."

And as Hawks ran his eyes over the small form on the hospital, he could see the paleness of her and the dark circles under her eyes. Thankfully, she seemed uninjured and fine otherwise, so he wasn't sure what was meant by how severe her injuries were if she looked perfectly fine now. There was no way to heal from severe injuries at that rate and look normal next, right? Maybe they brought in Recovery Girl…

"She definitely looks in stable condition," he heard Hari murmur and he looked over and saw him grab her chart. "It says here that she —"

When Hari cut himself off, Hawks walked over, concerned when he saw the other man look pale and was shaking. Then he looked extremely angry, whirling around to face the sleeping girl. Was she sleeping or unconscious though?

"Why the hell didn't you  _talk_  to anyone?" Hari yelled at her, catching Hawks' attention.

"What? What's wrong? Why are you yelling at her?" Hawks asked in a panic.

Hari shoved the chart at him. "She jumped off the fucking roof of her school!"

Hawks inhaled sharply, staring at him in disbelief. Then he looked down at the chart and read it over, his face screwing in a mix of anger, sorrow, and upset. Anger at her for doing this, anger at himself for not noticing. Sorrow that she'd felt she'd come to this point and hadn't been able to talk to anyone about how she was feeling all along. Upset about this entire situation.

"I need a drink," Hari growled, hands clenching. "I can't…If I stay and talk to her, I'm going to be upset and that's not good for her. I don't like upsetting her. I'm not in a good mindset."

"I think I need that drink too," Hawks muttered. "I'm going to leave something behind though, so she knows I was here and so she won't feel alone."

He thought about it and plucked out a feather from his wings, placing it on Izuku's hand and making a fist so she ended up holding it. Hari joined him a second later, throwing his white raincoat over the back of the chair next to her bed.

"She'd recognize that," Hari said frankly. "She knows my raincoat by now."

Hawks didn't get it, but if the other said so…

"Come on, I know a good bar around here," Hari said to him, his tone tired.

He bit his lip, looking back at her one last time before he followed after the new friend he'd made in the name of Izuku.

* * *

Enji sighed deeply, stepping back into the hospital room. He saw her still sleeping, though he furrowed his eyebrows at the red feather she was now clutching, as well as the addition of a white raincoat on the back of his chair. Clutching his coffee, he shrugged it off and just sat back on his chair. She stirred then, opening her eyes and he was looking straight into her sleepy face.

He found his lips twitching up without his permission, and an idle thought of how cute she looked crossed his mind before he forcefully banished it. He must be tired too, or else he wouldn't be thinking those kind of thoughts. It  _was_  true though and he was making an observation, not something he should overreact and get bothered over…

He sipped at his coffee before he allowed himself to smile. "Hey, you're awake."

She blinked several times before she used a hand to wipe at her eyes, waking up more. "Hi," she said sleepily. "Sorry I fell asleep on you."

Enji nodded. "It's understandable since you did end up using a lot of energy healing yourself." He saw her flinch. "Here," he ended up bringing out her sketchbook that he'd placed to the side.

She silently grabbed it, very awake now.

"Your work is good," he said softly. "You're really talented."

It was. He remembered looking through it and seeing all of her artwork. When he reached the end and saw the last page of himself though, he hadn't been able to bear it and had slammed it shut, unable to see the bloodstains covering his portrait.

That she'd tried to kill herself wasn't something he'd been able to stomach.

He still couldn't, but she was here now and she was alive and breathing in front of him. That's why he put aside his coffee and grabbed her hand.

"If you're sad…If you're lonely…Especially if you're angry because  _I know what it_ _'s_ _ **like**_ _to be_ _ **angry**_ …" Enji squeezed her hand. "Come talk to me. Come talk to Fuyumi. Come talk to Natsuo or even Shoto. Don't keep it to yourself; let us know and we'll be there to listen to you, just like you were there for us. Okay? I didn't want to meet you again like this. If anything, it would've been nice to have met you again, seeing you happy and doing well in your life."

She looked down nibbling on her lip. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be sorry," he said firmly. "Just remember you  _do_  have people who care for you and you should  _never_  have jumped."

He and his family did care for her, despite just having that short week with her. She'd saved him and their family in a way where things could've been too late otherwise, and the idea that the same almost could've not happened for her upset him and twisted him up inside. It contradicted the oddly warm and content feeling he felt as he sat near her…

Enji looked down at their hands and stilled at the sight of their wrists.

He'd reached for her left hand with his, considering she was still clutching onto that strange red feather with her right, and though he'd been upset, his feelings had been muddled with a calmness he hadn't ever felt before.

But he saw his name written across her wrist, just as hers was written on his. That was  _his_  handwriting…which meant on his wrist was hers. He looked up at her, opening his mouth to ask, only to see her briefly glance at their wrists before averting her eyes.

She knew what it was and didn't want to say anything about it.

Enji closed his mouth and said nothing else, just continuing to hold onto her and letting her know he was still there.

* * *

He'd stayed with her the entire day, though she'd been in and out of consciousness through it. He'd made sure to call his agency to let them know he wouldn't be in, which he knew surprised his employees, and hadn't budged from her side for any longer than he could manage.

Which meant that when he entered his home to see his worried children, he cursed under his breath and realized he'd not only forgotten to bring Fuyumi her food, but also had forgotten to tell them what had happened and where he'd been.

"Where were you?" Fuyumi asked, standing up quickly and heading over to him. "We were worried!" she said upset, torn between that and the worry.

Shoto's stare and Natsuo full out glaring at him made him run his hands through his hair agitatedly.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, looking away. "I…I was visiting Izuku."

That made the room pause and his kids were all staring at him then.

"Izuku-chan?" Natsuo asked loudly. "You saw her?"

He nodded and gestured for them to sit down at the table. He walked with Fuyumi and sat at the table before reluctantly addressing them.

"This morning, I was visited by a couple of people who knew I knew her," he started out. His hand twitched, remembering. "They told me she was in the hospital."

"Oh! She's in the hospital? Is she okay? What happened?" Fuyumi began to wring her hands together.

Enji hesitated, which his kids noticed. "She hasn't…she hasn't been having a good time with things, and apparently she jumped off the roof of her school yesterday."

"What?" Shoto actually exclaimed, his usual expressionless face caught between fury and sorrow.

He didn't want to give them exact details, but his kids were actually as meticulous and stubborn as him and would probably not stop until they found out everything they could. So he told them what he knew and felt tired at the end of it. This was emotionally draining and Enji had never been good with emotions. He'd been shit with them before he'd met Izuku and he still mostly was. He was surprised he managed to be how he was with Izuku earlier, considering he thought he'd be awkward and awful and clumsy with his comfort.

"I'm sorry I forgot to bring you food, Fuyumi," he turned to his daughter. "I was…I was preoccupied the whole day and hadn't wanted to leave her side," he admitted to them.

"Never mind that," Fuyumi said in agitation, unlike her usual gentle self. "How is she doing? Is she stable? Please tell me she's not really injured!"

At that, he relaxed. "No, she was actually fine. Physically at least. She was completely healed by the time I visited her."

Shoto's eyebrows furrowed. "How is that? If she…jumped…shouldn't she be…"

Enji thought on that. He knew what her Quirk really was, even if it was being listed as Super Regeneration. But his kids remembered her stay with them and her ability to create fire like him.

"She's…she's got a Super Regeneration Quirk that managed to heal her back to normal," he told them.

"But didn't she have a fire Quirk?" Natsuo was the one to bring that up. "That's why you were sort of training her back then, right? She had a Quirk that was similar to you?"

Enji shook his head. "She's got a…copy Quirk," he hesitantly explained. "She can take other people's Quirks and keep a copy to herself."

"Wait a second," Natsuo started, but it was Shoto who finished the thought. "So she took your Quirk?"

He nodded. "That time, those flames she created and was learning to use was because she copied my Quirk. The Super Regeneration must be another Quirk she'd copied."

"Would she mind us visiting her?" Fuyumi asked suddenly and Enji froze up. He stared at them, but they weren't looking away from him.

"I don't know," Enji said. "I don't think so. I was…I asked to be put on the case, so after I finish up with that tomorrow, I guess I can pick you guys up and head to her hospital room? Do you all want to —"

"Yes."

"Duh!"

"Please, Otou-san!"

He looked over his kids, mentally shaking his head. "Be ready by four," he told them firmly. "If you're not ready, I'll leave you behind."

"Yes, Otou-san," they chorused and he got up and began to get ready to make dinner.

He was still troubled by his thoughts though.

* * *

Later that night, Enji sat at his desk in his study, staring at his left wrist. It throbbed a bit, but not as much as it had earlier. When he'd held her hand, the same wrist with his name, there hadn't been any pain or ache at all.

Just content and calm.

When he'd first gotten the lettered scars, he'd been baffled and not understanding why he'd woken to that pain and the letters. The blood had been concerning, but then he'd ended up with no actual wound. He'd put it off because of the dream that had haunted him and not wanting to do anything but sleep off his depression. He'd gone to take care of his wrist and then gone back to sleep.

Then he'd gone through the rest of the day in a daze that he hid from everyone, glancing occasionally at his wrist, and trying not to remember the dream he'd had and unfortunately continuing to wonder about Izuku that day —ironically being her birthday. His wrist had been in a low thrum of pain that day, but he hadn't been in a good headspace to think or care much about it. He put it off. Later, he kept telling himself, later.

Then he went to sleep that night and had that dream again, and he woke up to Shoto and trying not to slip further into his depression.

But then he learned about Izuku and he felt like he'd fucked up again.

Maybe him having her name on his wrist was supposed to be a constant reminder that he owed her and that he would always have to make things up to her. He didn't know why he'd gotten her name on his wrist, but a part of him felt like it was the universe telling him he was in her debt forever.

He did know that Izuku seem to know what it really meant.

Grabbing his laptop, he thought maybe he should finally look into this. But did he really want to? Given her reaction earlier and knowing she knew but didn't seem to want  _him_  to know, maybe he didn't want to know about their branded names.

But it was Izuku and Enji was willing to do whatever he could for her.

He owed her far too much after all.

* * *

Kurogiri's misty hands gripped the box tightly, staring down at the tall glass of the melted remains of a milkshake. He'd placed that there this morning and had decided he'd give her a belated birthday cake later in the day to celebrate her birthday, since he hadn't been able to yesterday on her actual birthday. Tomura had thrown a tantrum and he'd had to stick around to watch him.

This was supposed to be a surprise. Izuku was supposed to be here. Only…he couldn't feel or hear anyone inside her apartment and her milkshake was left untouched. He just knew something happened.

Creating a portal into her home, he entered through and saw it was dark and silent. It hadn't looked like anyone had been there that day. That wasn't Izuku, especially with her living circumstances. There was nowhere else for her to be.

Frantically looking around, he saw no other signs of where she could be. Not sure where else to look and unfamiliar with anywhere she might be, he decided to bite his tongue and ask for Sensei's help.

Maybe he would help him and wouldn't be too upset that Kurogiri had planned to meet with Izuku for a bit, if only to just drop off a cake…

Started 11/21/18 — Completed 12/10/18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaah, I swear I'm getting closer to the anime/manga! But all these 'pre-chapters' have become really important, so gotta get through them! Lots of Enji here, after being absent for a bit, and next chapter should be more Kurogiri and Sensei! Exciting times, huh? Please remember to review! Feed my angsty, monstrous soul~
> 
> Quick Points:
> 
> 1\. Enji's timeframe: I kind of messed up on it last chapter. I'll fix soon though, but here it goes a little more in detail thankfully. But at least he's back?
> 
> 2\. EnDeku Discord: Haha, I made a Discord server for EnjixIzuku! If you like them with me, join the EnDeku family~ Invite: https://discord.gg/GFHSFJc
> 
> 3\. Current BNHA fics as of 12/22:  
> "Advent of a Heroine" (main)  
> "Don't Want to Touch You (But You're Under My Skin)" (Main EnDeku),  
> "Miss You Like Crazy" (EnDeku Soulmate series),  
> "Cake and Smiles" (AFOIzu, became a three-shot),  
> an exclusive Ao3 EnDeku smut fic called "A Wolf in My Heart" (done for Kinktober),  
> "Miles in Your Mind" (EnDeku fic bodyswap),  
> "A Little Sugar & Honey" (EnDeku one-shot),  
> "warm embers" (another EnDeku one-shot),  
> "Sweet Love O' Mine" (EnDeku pregnancy)  
> and a Soulmate one-shot coming up called "Dokei to Dokei".  
> Please check them out~


End file.
